Figurative Artists

Stephen Janton, portraits in oils

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am a realist painter who enjoys the challenge of painting the human form. I have been so influenced and impressed by the Old Masters, the Dutch “Little Masters” and the best of the French academic painters of the nineteenth century. They carried oil painting to its highest pinnacle of technical perfection. In addition, having grown up in Wilmington Delaware, I was exposed to the Brandywine School and the artists Pyle, the entire Wyeth family and my friend and guide George Weymouth.

Portraiture and the human form have always been my main interest and I have developed a good
sense of form during my many years studying and working as a Physical Therapist. My works in still life and landscapes tend to be more experimental with a sense of realism. I attempt painting what is real to me…what I see.

In doing a portrait, I enjoy finding the composition that best describes the individual’s personality and I include the person being painted in that process which makes for a more successful outcome. I frequently utilize the technique of a single light source in my portraits as it helps create greater depth. I rely primarily on the techniques of traditional oil painting but have tested my deepest level of patience by painting in egg tempera and appreciate the quality of skin tones created by the unique process.

Artwork should stand on its own merits – or fail on its own shortcomings if it does not succeed in registering favorably upon the viewer’s sensibilities. Quality is the central issue, as it must be where art is concerned. I am doing my best and enjoying the process in my attempts at creating quality in my artwork.
Stephen Janton

Ulla Wobst, German figurative painter

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Having always been interested in getting close to the essence of man I 'm attracted by psychical or philosophical themes, not so much by political or social ones, although there are exceptions. Thus my paintings have mostly to do with man's basic themes such as life, love dream and death as well as with literature and foreign cultures. All in all and above all I'm fascinated by everything inexplicable and mysterious between heaven and earth.
Ulla Wobst
Dortmund, Germany

Max Ferguson

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Max Ferguson learned the discipline for his meticulously rendered oil paintings while doing animated films as a teenager, graduating from New York University film school when he was 20. But it was while spending a year at an art school in Amsterdam that his interest switched to painting. He was, and continues to be, greatly influenced by Dutch 17th century genre painting. While in Amsterdam, after only painting a few months, the City of Amsterdam purchased one of his paintings. Back in New York a short time later, H.W. Janson, author of the classic text History of Art, also acquired one of his paintings.

He often paints older models. "While my fellow art students were painting nudes of young women, I was painting octogenarians with canes."

He has worked on a number of series over the years, including the subways, Coney Island, nocturnal imagery. Most of his subject matter focuses on scenes of a rapidly disappearing New York. "It is not so much that I am nostalgically looking to the past, but looking to the future to preserve aspects of urban life for future generations that are quickly evaporating. Many of the images that I have painted are now either gone or renovated beyond recognition. It is both very gratifying to know that I captured them, at least in paint, but crushing to realize that they are now gone."

Ferguson tends to shun fashion. As he puts it, "Today's avante-garde is tomorrow's passé. I am not a fashion designer from Milan, I am a painter from New York. It is not so much that I am consciously a contrarian, but it would seem that the louder and larger the work of my contemporaries grows, the quieter and smaller my paintings become."

"My work is essentially autobiographical," says Ferguson, with his two most frequent models being his father and himself. "The more personal you get, the more universal you become."

"My paintings are generally populated by a solitary figure. In one sense it is a soliloquy. But there is someone else involved; the viewer. So it is more like a dialogue. It is that silent, emotional pas de deux between the two in which I am most interested." "I am of course concerned with the technique and more cerebral aspects of painting, but more so with the emotional, psychological sides of the imagery. I try to think visually, but paint viscerally. Technique minus soul equals zero."

His paintings are in many prominent private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

MAX FERGUSON: ON PAINTING
My preference is to work from life.

Unfortunately, with most of my subject matter, that is somewhere between impractical and impossible. I generally make photographic studies which I then use as reference material in my studio. These are merely a jumping-off point, and I often combine elements from many different photographic studies and modify them.

I then draw a number of studies until I have the final life-size cartoon.

While I approach every painting a little differently, I usually begin by transferring the lines of the drawing to the panel. I then do a rough, thin underpainting layer, using burnt umber, black, and white. After this, I paint one or two more layers of underpainting in color. Then I paint the final layer in color.

With each successive layer the painting becomes increasingly detailed and polished. While most of the decisions are made prior to beginning a painting, often changes are made in progress (note that the buttons on her pants are eliminated after the monochromatic underpainting).

I use sable brushes that are intended to be used for watercolors; it is the only way I can achieve the desired results.

The oil paintings generally take between two and four months to complete.
Max Ferguson

Carolyn Bloomer ceramics

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

I make wall works that combine clay forms with paint, paper, wood and found objects.

I love the unabashed naturalism of the Venus of Willendorf and I sometimes appropriate her to use in my work as a stand-in for Mother Nature, all mothers, or, sometimes, just Woman. My porcelain vessels embody space and light, and sometimes contain hidden messages from my world; images and expressions from everyday domestic life, playfully interpreted by me.
Carolyn Bloomer

Chris Woods Pop Realism

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Chris Woods has been a professional artist since 1990. He has participated in numerous solo and group shows over that time in Canada and the United States. Chris employs his friends as models and explores the impact of consumer culture on the individual. He works in a hyper-realistic style in an effort to create vivid and lucid works with an intense, mythic quality.

His latest series of paintings 'Superfortress' is set to show in April 2012 at Gallery Jones in Vancouver, BC. He will have a solo survey-show at the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford BC in the summer of 2013.
Chris Woods

Mariana Palova, imaginative artist, Mexico

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Mariana Palova is a young Mexican woman born in 1990. She is finding in the positive, vivid and colorful metamorphosis her cosmogony. Mariana plays with the transformation and experience’s influence getting surrounded by a certain aura and holding special devotion for elements of nature, analogies, monster-like humans and the astrological environment giving birth to a whole new and even fist stage of her artistic work.

In spite of her young age and short experience her work has quickly gotten involved with important art guilds, generating both rejection and praise, evoking a sensitive work, overflowing with passion and with a life’s philosophy based on the beauty of the human’s metamorphosis and the charm of her imagination, refusing a sickened and hideous world that ironically glorifies in a traditional way the contemporary art.

Her work has been exhibited abroad in countries such as United States and Mexico and in South America, Europe and Asia, and in both printed and on-line publication.
Mariana Palova

Maggie Toole, Circulism, colored pencil portraiture

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Maggie Toole
Circulism
Using colored pencils, I draw no lines at all...only varied, overlapped and intertwined circles. Building seemingly transparent layers, incorporating all color.

As in pointillism, the distant viewer's eye fuses these into realistic shades of human flesh, hair and life.
Maggie Toole

Brittany Lauren, acrylics and encaustics

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Brittany Lauren graduated from Sheridan College where she received her certificate in Art Fundamentals and an Advanced Diploma in Crafts and Design, Glass.

Most recently, Brittany has been exploring new mediums and taking encaustic workshops at R & F Paints in New York to refine and expand her paintings. She finds that working with wax allows you to work quicker and easier because the medium is fairly forgiving. You can build layers upon layers without the waiting time. Drawing from her inspirations in cultural differences, she explores the essence of African tribes and tries to capture their raw nature.

Brittany participates in local exhibitions and continues to create custom work for luxury cottages and local interior designers.

Artist Statement
I am a painter inspired by the keepers of Africa. Tribes that connect to the land and animals living in total harmony. Their traditions and dreams significant to everyday life. These are the people who truly understand and portray natural beauty. I try to capture the emotion that is engraved in their faces by painting. Painting allows for such a rawness that photographs cannot provide.

I use acrylic paints in my work because they’re the most versatile. Applying washes, glazes and scrubbing the canvas allows me to create depth and a certain roughness in the faces. In some cases I use encaustics because it also has a natural layering effect that I love to work with. By creating these emotions I feel people have a better chance of connecting and responding to my work which I feel is important when it comes to art.
Brittany Lauren

Help fund a worthy young South African student's international studies

2011-12-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

My name is Didintle Ntsie, I am 24 years old, I am from a township in South Africa called Ga-Rankuwa. I'm currently studying social entrepreneurship in Sweden under the International Youth Initiative Program together with 40 other students from all over the world. This campaign is aimed at getting financial assistance to continue my studies in this enriching and unique program.

The Impact
I am an aspiring Social entrepreneur and believe that social entrepreneurship has the potential to add so much more to so many more lives. Some of the most important solutions to global stability lie within this sector.

There are many examples of social entrepreneurs that have made a difference in the course and direction of humanity. I do believe that I have what it takes to be a positive, strong force in this realm.

The finances from this campaign will go towards paying the rest of my fees which will allow me to focus fully on what is being offered on the program.

I am the only participant from the entire continent of Africa, I strongly believe that my presence on the course is of high importance. My presence brings a different aspect to conversations and discussions as do all the other participants from the different parts of the world. I feel that it is my responsibility to do my best to ensure that my voice is included.

I am a firm believer that money (or the lack thereof) should NEVER be allowed to prevent people from reaching for the nourishment (of any kind) that they seek. Money should never prevent us from giving our best and from receiving the best.

Since being a part of the YIP program I have grown in ways I never previously thought possible, a whole world has been opened to me where deep questions and challenges have been presented to me probing me for answers and solutions to those questions and challenges.

I am nowhere near discovering all that this program offers and believe that continuing on the course is essential for my journey of life. With continued funding, I plan to go to Bolivia where I will be working with an organisation that works with indigenous people of the area and helping to restore their culture and beliefs as well as teaching them their rights. I will also get the opportunity to live with the different clans in the different parts and work with my hands and help them wherever help is needed.

If I don't raise enough money, I may not be able to continue on the program.

What I Need:
The total program cost is $11,000

My family has put together $5,800 (which consists of a loan my mom took from the bank as well as donations from other relatives)

A good friend and mentor from Australia donated $1,000

This leaves an amount of approx $4,200
The program cost includes
Meals (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner from Monday through Friday when on Campus at YIP
Accommodation (single-sex, twin-share bedrooms on campus)
Materials
Travel to international internship
Transport (public and excursions)

Here is the link to the campaign!
I hope you may find time to help by making a contribution or simply by passing it along and making a lot of noise about it to friends and family!

Other ways to help
Please share this with your friends via social networks: let them know that you donated too!
Twitter: @TheDidiness
Blog:http://swedishgarden.wordpress.com/podium-of-gratitude/
Quote of the week: "You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love." - Henry Drummond

Paula writes: We made a donation to Didi who is a young friend of ours from South Africa. Any little contribution helps this energetic young mover and shaker further her international studies and would be greatly appreciated, please donate before Jan 16 if you can help her out and help the global good karma. 3000 people read my 3 blogs in November, just think what even one dollar each would help her out with....

Kurt Wenner 3D Pavement Art

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Kurt Wenner has not only invented 3D Pavement Art he has gone on to create Interactive 3D Art as well, and now offers up the best of both techniques. Familiarity with his name and art drives an exceptional amount of press coverage and the public to view his images in person. Wenner has always brought art out to the public and now his art has evolved to integrate the public “into” the art.

Einstein is Impressed, Tokyo, Japan. The public interacts with the art and the client’s product.

Interactive 3D Art:
Over the years Wenner heard the same requests repeated and was challenged to find a solution to create art that would:
• Leave the event space clean.
• Provide a full-scale finished image onsite within 1-3 days.
• Allow the public to walk on the art.
• Avoid damage from rain and wind.
• Utilize the artwork for multiple events.
• Provide multiple copies of the art.
• Display the artwork for weeks or months.
• Repurpose the artwork for display in corporate settings.
• Donate the artwork after the event.

Wenner’s initial response was to begin creating his work on a canvas support. These large works of art were heavy and difficult to transport, but they enabled him to arrive with a portion of the image already completed and this went over well with the public who loved seeing the large-scale colorful work already well underway. He found he could also work in a variety of locations, as he was no longer dependent on the site’s surface. The technique was not perfect, but it was a start. Eventually the digital age arrived and Wenner immediately embraced all of its advantages.

Incident at Waterloo, London, England.

Wenner’s art has always utilized invention and technology and finding a way to incorporate the best of digital imaging into his work was a natural progression. He continues to create all his artwork by hand, but thanks to digital technology he can now produce images that truly meet the needs of the clients and presenters.

Wenner offers two approaches for live events:
1. Digital Transfer
In his studio, Wenner creates a portion of the full color artwork by hand and digitally transfers it on vinyl canvas.

Belgian Underground, Brussels, Belgium
The work was prepared ahead of the event and “Alice” was drawn while on-site.

This approach enables him to be on-site with a large-scale colorful work of art that immediately attracts attention. Based on the allotted time at an event, he completes a portion of the image in person with his handmade pastels. The application of pastels on-site blends seamlessly with the rest of the art.

2. Digital Transfer with Overlay
Wenner creates the entire full color image in his studio and digitally transfers it on to a vinyl canvas. A second piece of vinyl canvas then overlays the full color image and Wenner works with his handmade pastels on the overlay for the duration of the event. Once the event has concluded the overlay is removed and a full color giclèe print remains for further display or donation.

Both approaches preserve the performance aspect of creating the artwork for the public and media. By embracing digital technology Wenner has been able to create an entirely new field of art, Interactive 3D Art, since the images do not smear or wear off as the public engages with the art.

Acqua Panna, Napa, California. The branding of the bottle appeared “miraculously on the day of the unveiling by removing an overlay of an unbranded bottle

Branding:
Branding of a client’s product, logo, or other specific elements can be incorporated into the artwork. Because the art is often interactive many events have a photographer on-site to hand out instant prints of the public integrated into or interacting with the image. Sometimes numbers are given out so the photograph can be downloaded directly from the client’s website, thus creating a second marketing opportunity.
Kurt Wenner

Claudio Dantas Christmas image

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Amante da Arte desde pequeno, segui, entretanto, o caminho da Engenharia Química até 1987, quando resolvi dedicar-me integralmente à pintura. Cursei alguns meses da Escola de Belas Artes da UFRJ até descobrir que infelizmente não seria ali que conseguiria atingir minhas metas artísticas, já que a Escola abandonara completamente a figuração e tudo o que considero fundamental para a formação do pintor. A partir de então, continuo como autodidata um estudioso da Grande Pintura, da Renascença ao Impressionismo.

A partir de 1988, ingressei no Mercado de Arte através da Galeria Heritage no Rio de Janeiro, e desde então vivo exclusivamente da Pintura."
Claudio Dantas Brazil

Merry Christmas to you all from Paula. Have a wonderful holiday season and all the best for a healthy and happy new year!

Nigel Cox, alone but not lonely

2011-12-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

I’m a London based artists. I was born in Newry Co. Down Ireland and grew up on the edge of Dundalk, a small market town in County Louth. After graduating from Riversdale College of Technology in Liverpool, I joined the Transglobe Expedition, led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. This three-year expedition successfully achieved the first circumnavigation of the globe on land, sea and ice via North and South poles along the Greenwich Meridian.

During the expedition I would be at sea, on an ice cap or in some remote location for months on end. Spending large amounts of time alone, surrounded by the staggering beauty of vast and often barren spaces had a profound affect and the essence of this experience strongly influenced my painting.

My love of large open spaces and lack of clutter is obvious in my work but I am also fascinated by detail. These opposing elements are merged in my paintings providing the viewer with a glimpse beyond the clutter of everyday life, conjuring up notions of escape and peace, offering sanctuary from the frenetic world outside.

I remove everyday people from the crowd and place them centre stage. They are unaware of my presence and therefore are natural and relaxed . . . a more true essence of the person, I feel, than a posed or traditional portrait . . whereby the sitter is aware that they are being observed and switch into pose mode.

The figures are alone but not lonely; searching but not anxious, anticipating yet calm. They have an inner peace and strength and are at one with their surroundings giving every day scenes an unexpected and surreal feeling while keeping them within the real world.
Nigel Cox

Karen Swenholt, dramatic sculpture

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

A foolish woman tears her own house down.

A house divided against itself will not stand.

I am disturbed by the vicious caricatures this nation has been drawing of one another. In an effort to nurse our hatreds and support the righteousness of our views we are frightening ourselves. And we want to believe these lies, though they fill us with anger and fear at our fellow citizens. This is a sculpture and two poems I have recently completed that illustrate the foolishness.

Each hand of "American Eagle" contends to be the first to slap the other. What American eagle's hands do not realize is that even when the opposing hand is successfully smacked, the entity that contains both is hurt and thus winner is injured to the same degree as loser.

American Eagle
She strikes
And is surprised by the pain
Right hand crushes left
Left hand lies for gain
Winner loses all
When a nation of cartoons
Drawn with crude desperate strokes
Thick and stinking with opposing righteousness
Forget charity and truth
And this nation, like a madman
Pouring out invective against himself
Stumbles in the streets

Resolution
I am one, not two.
And though I favor my right today
I can carry little without my left
And building needs two hands
One to work
One to steady
Or like walking
Which needs two halves for progress
Honor to you, Left
Honor to my Right.
Let us with purpose work together.
Karen Swenholt

James Bentley captures the gaze

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

In my work, rather than creating literal interpretations, I react to what I feel. The outward appearance of the subject may be different from what I see and feel. I try to catch the gaze, the presence, the intensity and the nuances that makes a person come alive. That is what interests me and that is what I paint.

In my process I like the work to go very quickly. I focus completely and remove all expectations. The speed makes me work with what is in front of me and the decisions are made in the moment. I must trust myself in order to move forward.

My current art works build on the experience gained from having created previous art works. The experience of producing each piece, successful or not, is carried over to the next piece. All is used in the end.

Dans mon travail, je désir traduire mes réactions vis-à-vis mon sujet, plutôt que de recréer littéralement son image. Son apparence réelle est souvent bien différente de ce que je ressens et vois. Cette perception me permet de capturer l’essentiel de ce qui rend une présence vivante. Et c’est cela qui m’intéresse le plus lorsque je peins.

J’aime aussi travailler rapidement. Une approche qui m’alloue de rester concentrer sur le sujet et de prendre des décisions en lien avec mes impressions.

Chaque œuvre exprime finalement l’expérience du travail cumulé par ses précédentes. C’est une confiance qui fait progresser mon travail.
James Bentley

Jason de Caires Taylor sculptures featured as Wonders Of The World

2011-12-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Sculptures Vicissitudes and The Lost Correspondent are featured in National Geographic’s Magazine/Book called "Wonders of the World". The Grenada installations are rather modestly listed next to 25 other places including; The Northern Lights, Mount Everest, Kelp forests of California, Machu Picchu in Peru and The Victoria falls to name a few.
Jason de Caires Taylor

Maggie Dillon, figurative art in batik

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

I use photographic references to create representational portraits of an occasion among friends, a glimpse of a relationship and natural daily life, or a celebration of family; my artistry presents memories.
Maggie Dillon
Art textiles works with batik, fabrics and threadwork.

Alicia Ponzio Portrait Sculpture Class

2011-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Paula,
Thanks for having me on your site- I noticed I get web traffic referrals from your site regularly.
I was wondering if it's possible to create a link on your links page to'd like to announceBay Area Classical Artist Atelier)?

I'll be offering a Portrait Sculpture Class at Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier starting in January and going for 10 weeks. Here's the link to the class, in case you are interested:
http://www.bacaa.org/classes/tuesday-night-portrait-sculpture-new-instructor-alicia-ponzi.html

Regardless, I really appreciate what you are doing with the site. Thank you!
Alicia Ponzio

57 new artists added to end 2011 with 750 artists

2011-12-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

We've just finished up 2011 by adding 57 new exciting figurative artists to the site which brings the number of international artists working with the human form who have joined this site up to 750 in less than 2 years.

Our site and blog have gained a lot of respect and many visitors. FigurativeArtist.org had 19,910 unique visitors in 2011 spending about 5 minutes each and the blog had 7,565 unique visitors. We showcase artists from 40 countries in a wonderful variety of mediums and styles, that's the whole exciting aspect of the site. the quality and diversity of our artists' work. Come and visit, and if you enjoy our site, please recommend us to a friend who may want to join or just wander in our wonderful online gallery.
Here are a few of our latest additions:

Jason Mecier who works with recycled objects and mixed media.

Lora Rocke who carves her stories out of threads and fibres.

Kurt Wenner who creates enormous chalk installations all over the world and remarkable 3d worlds we appear to fall into on the pavement.

Daniel Gamelas from Portugal and his lovely sculptures.

Renee Rouillier whose odd ceramic babies make us wonder what's going to happen next.
Have a wonderful Holiday Season and see you next year!
Your gal in the art trench-
Paula

Jason Mecier, mosaic Pop culture portraits

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Jason has spent over 10 years creating outrageous 3-D mosaic portraits of his favorite pop culture icons. Each portrait is created from objects such as make-up, candy, pills, food and discarded junk donated from the celebrities themselves!

Celebrity clients include Phyllis Diller, Rosie O’Donnell, Farrah Fawcett, Pink, Mary-Louise Parker, Amy Sedaris, George Lopez, Parker Posey, Ricki Lake, RuPaul, Margaret Cho, Florence Henderson, Elvira, Scissor Sisters, the Go-Go’s, Morgan Fairchild, Kathy Najimy, Barbi Benton, Tura Satana, Susan Tyrrell, Stepfanie Kramer, Joan Van Ark, Heidi Fleiss and Paris Hilton!

Jason’s artwork is featured in the new Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Book; Prepare to be Shocked!, and Taschen’s Illustration Now Portraits! Other clients include Wrigley's, Ford, Quaker, Albertsons, The Food Network, Neiman Marcus, Aveeno, Corona, MTV, W Hotel, Rolling Stone, Showtime, Entertainment Weekly, People, Harpers, Seventeen, Nickelodeon, Cosmo Girl, Details, Soap Opera Weekly, The Advocate, The Village Voice and The New York Times.

Jason hopes to one day trade art with Marilyn Manson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jane Seymore and Yoko Ono. Jason lives and works in San Francisco.
Jason Mecier

Saatchi's scathing portrait of the art world

2011-12-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Charles Saatchi, the most important British art collector of his generation, has launched an incendiary attack on the buyers, dealers and curators who populate the contemporary art world and concluded that many of them have little feeling for art and cannot tell a good artist from a bad one. Saatchi paints a scathing picture of the contemporary art world and says that being a buyer these days "is comprehensively and indisputably vulgar".

He says: "It is the sport of the Eurotrashy, hedgefundy, Hamptonites; of trendy oligarchs and oiligarchs; and of art dealers with masturbatory levels of self-regard." Saatchi described the Venice Biennale, scene of the world's biggest contemporary art jamboree, as a place where these people circulate "in a giddy round of glamour-filled socialising, from one swanky party to another".
Read whole article in The Guardian by Mark Brown, arts correspondent

Jacquline Hurlbert, figurative ceramic sculpture

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

It’s crazy out there. So I retreat to my inside world. The one where I can breathe and calm myself. Clay serves as the vehicle for my meditation; it speaks without words. Everything that I feel is automatically transferred to the clay through my hands. This is my voice, not heard but seen. I invite you to communicate with me through visual imagery, creating a dialogue between yourself and the work.

Oversized feet symbolize the strength to stand alone in the face of opposition. An admirable concept to believe in but not always an easy one to live by. I’m not just talking about the “big” issues of the day either, I’m talking about the decisions we make on a daily basis that define who we are and what we believe in.

The figures with outstretched, exaggerated hands beckon you to step inside yourself. The hands are presenting and offering, a gift of personal insight.

Many of the figures are in costume; this reflects my ongoing investigation of the many personalities and attitudes that reside inside each one of us. I’m not the same person I was yesterday . . . and yet I am. I am changed by each new experience but yet the essence of who I am remains. I enjoy playing this game of cat and mouse with myself.

The clay speaks and I listen, this body of work is the result of that silent conversation.

Jacquline Hurlbert

J. T. Winik working from imagination

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

“When the self speaks to the self, who is speaking? ...” Virginia Woolf, “An Unwritten Novel,” 1921

Much of my work represents studies in introspection. The subjects, most often depicted as solitary figures, appear lost within themselves, whether reflexively (i.e. as in an automatic reaction to circumstances) or with conscious determination, subsumed within a deep and intentional, investigative thought process. The figures and faces portrayed explore mental states as attitudes, be they fleeting internal reactions manifested in a gesture of apparent pain, or self-contained reflection in which the subject is deeply ruminating images and experiences the viewer cannot see ... but may recognize.
Although I occasionally use models for figure reference, more often than not I work from imagination. Creating a face is an exciting interactive process – you can never really predict the end result or how it will happen as it’s a subltly different journey with each painting.
J. T. Winik

Jean-Paul Tibbles awarded portrait prize

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Jean-Paul Tibbles was awarded Grand Prize at the 2008 International Portrait Competition of the Portrait Society of America (PSA) for a unique family portrait commissioned by Andreeva Portrait Commissions of three generations of a Texas family (www.AndreevaPortraits.com).

Grand Prize-winning portrait, Andreeva, who represents Tibbles and other award-winning portrait painters around the world exclusively, had commissioned Tibbles to paint members of a Central Texas family. Tibbles chose to compose the three women in an open embrace, reminiscent of the pose in the Three Graces in paintings by Raphael, Rubens and Botticelli.

A select group of PSA portrait painters awarded the Grand Prize of $5,000 to Tibbles at their annual Society meeting in Philadelphia in April. Tibbles remarked, "When I paint a portrait, I am recording presence, someone present in all the meanings of that word."

Tibbles has also conducted painting workshops at the Andreeva Portrait Academy.
For additional information, contact Pam Osborn or visit www.AndreevaArtists.com.

About Andreeva
Andreeva represents masters of figurative painting in contemporary classical realism from around the world, for portrait commissions (www.AndreevaCommissions.com) and for instruction at the Portrait Academy in Santa Fe (blog.AndreevaAcademy.com).
Jean-Paul Tibbles

Mark Yale Harris

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was born in Buffalo, New York and spent hours as a child enthralled in my own artistic world- drawing, painting, doodling. I was honored with awards and scholarships for my art, but was encouraged to pursue a more conventional career, so I received a B.S.S. in 1961 from Ohio State University, and embarked upon a long and successful career in real estate and hotel development. Never abandoning my first love, I sold my company in 1996 to fulfill my dream of creating art full-time.

Although I had over a half-century of life experience, I was a novice at my craft, so I turned to an artist whose work I had collected and admired for years, Bill Prokopiof (Aleut, 1944-1999). In the spirit the nation’s most recognized Native American artist and mentor, sculptor Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1915-1994), Prokopiof and sculptor Doug Hyde (Nez Perce), took me under their wings, generously sharing with me immense knowledge, talent, and artistic skill. Santa Fe had been home to Houser, Prokopiof, and Hyde, and I made it mine as well in the late 1990’s, splitting my time between Santa Fe and Austin, Texas.

The artistic passion that had existed just beneath the surface of my long-established business persona was finally able to present itself in tangible form. I used the invaluable experience of their mentorship, along with my own vision, to create an evolving body of work in alabaster, marble, limestone, and bronze, often combining different elements to bring forth a duality in the sculpture that I make.

I am proud to share successful relationships with over eighteen galleries nationwide. Furthermore, my work has been included in several prestigious museum exhibitions as well as dozens of private and public collections internationally.

I continually look forward to exploring the possibilities that come with developing my craft, creating challenging pieces, forming new ideas, and extending my pursuit of expression through sculpture.
Mark Yale Harris

Ariel Oren, figurative artist, Tel Aviv, Israel

2011-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

The characters I chose to present have been selected from a human circle that lives in the bounds of a definite and binding frame. Through the painting, I try to give another view, which is free from all claims and social fixation. The characters play a lead role in each of the scenes on the canvas, allowing the viewer an intimate and overwhelming dialogue into the characters and images.

Some of the works display figurative exhibitionism and a personal expression of the naked human body, not as an erotic gesture, but rather as a gesture to those artistic conceptual images that make up complex compositions, which only an artist’s canvas can support without exposing too much.

The works include motifs of images from both the Christian and Buddhist religious and spiritual worlds, which, in one moment, create intimate moments of ritual ceremonies where imagination is the limit, and, in the next, there is no limit to imagination.

Ariel Oren

Cristina Cordova ceramics workshops March 2012

2011-10-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Paula:
I just wanted to submit some info on these workshops we'll be offering in March of 2012 in San Juan, PR. Hope all is well- the site/blog looks great!
Cristina Córdova
cristinacordova.com
travel-arte.com

Ann Marie Brown, Stumbling Towards Manhood

2011-10-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

"12 rounds in boxing...12 months in a year...12 spins round the sun before adolescence...12 boys alone in their corner"
Stumbling Towards Manhood is a woman's eye view of the formation of masculine identity.
October 20 - Nov 10, 2011
Galerie d'Avignon, Montreal

"The series was born out of watching my preadolescent son and his peers posturing. Jostling for position in a very physical way, while grappling with an onslaught of messages about what it is to be male.
I gave each model a set of adult boxing gloves when they came to the studio, then waited to see how they adjusted their stance to fit the role.
The resulting paintings bear witness to pressures perceived and fears felt. Individually the paintings are intimate portraits, and as a body form a critique of the weight of expectations that young boys face."
Ann-Marie Brown

Il y a 12 rounds à la boxe… 12 mois dans l'année… 12 tours autour du soleil avant l'adolescence... et 12 garçons seuls dans leur coin.
Stumbling Towards Manhood : une artiste émergente en provenance de Vancouver pose un regard profond sur la vie émotionnelle des garçons.
"C'est après avoir observé mon fils préadolescent et ses compagnons adopter des positions exagérées que la série de peintures est née. D'une manière très physique, les enfants luttaient dans la recherche d'une position idéale, lançant une panoplie de messages et tentant de définir ce que signifiait être mâle.
Lorsque les modèles sont venus au studio, je leur ai tous donné une paire de gants de boxe de tailles adultes. Puis, j'ai attendu de voir comment ils ajustaient leur position pour correspondre au rôle qui leur était attribué.
Les tableaux résultant de cette expérience témoignent de la pression et de la peur ressenties par les adolescents. Individuellement, les peintures peuvent être perçues comme des portraits intimes; ensemble, elles sont une critique sur le poids des attentes auxquelles les jeunes garçons font face."

Evelin Richter's new art book just going to press

2011-10-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

I love creating with clay, making “something” from “nothing.” I find myself drawn to clay largely because of its sensuous pliability—my favorite tools are my hands, and I experience and learn so much through the sense of touch.

In recent years I have focused on figurative ceramic sculpture, which I find particularly satisfying. I enjoy “meeting” new characters as they emerge out of the clay, to share their stories with me. I begin by visualizing, then wait for the shape to materialize through my hands. I know my work is going well when I lose track of time—I know a work is completed when it matches the image in my head, and when I can think of nothing else to add.

This book showcases 21 sculptural pieces created between 2009 and 2011. Some are “somewhat autobiographical,” while others delve into personas and scenarios I have never encountered. Some are expressions of happiness, some are contemplative, some are poignant—seen as a body of work, I guess one could say that these “individuals” I’ve had a hand in shaping act on my behalf to offer social commentary in exploring the vagaries of nature and the human condition.
Evelin Richter
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
November, 2011

Working Notes:
I create my sculptures in a small two-roomed studio in Winnipeg Beach, a convenient 20 paces from the front door of my home.

Most of the time I construct the sculptures using either coil or slab-building techniques, though occasionally I will also carve heads or elements from a block of clay. I have experimented with a wide variety of clay bodies in my sculptural work, including Death Valley (medium coarse in texture), Danish White (high-fire stoneware), M-325 Plainsman (lightly grogged body), Tucker’s 6-50 (cone 6 porcelain), Low White P’Clay (talc body), and Max’s Paper Clay (includes medium-mesh grog).

I fire my ceramic sculptures in an electric kiln (mostly at cone 04), and occasionally I participate in group wood-firings with friends (ware is fired up to cone 12). Most sculptural pieces go through an initial bisque firing, and after glazing and/or staining, a second (or more) glaze firings. To achieve
the desired results, I sometimes use cold finishes and varnishes.

I enjoy collecting odds and ends (found objects, bits and pieces of products destined for the landfill, etc.) which I incorporate into assembled constructions… what others see as “junk” can actually be a stimulating source of inspiration.

Amber Aguire - Baby Nation, ceramic sculpture

2011-10-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Artist's Statement for the Baby Nation body of work:
“Throughout history artists have functioned as social commentators. I see this as a sacred calling in my work. My mother is a Holocaust survivor who was interred in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She has spent her adult life fighting for human rights and therefore I was brought up with the need to do the same in my own work. I attempt to explore issues of human rights, racism and terrorism with a sometimes humorous, edgy and confrontational attitude.

My current body of work consists of the character of Baby Nation. He represents the established routine that a new nation follows to ensure its survival and independence. This is done by military, economic and social separation and strength. The more we separate ourselves into borders based on religious, cultural or racial identity, the more we focus on the differences rather than the similarities in humanity. This is the formula that leads to racism, terrorism and genocide. Rather than coming together, we separate ourselves.
My visual language consists of narrative sculpture interacting with various references to art, contemporary culture and mythology. To accentuate the narrative I use various surface treatments to emphasize certain aspects of their nature. I use a surface technique that I developed that I call "Naked Fauxku". This technique duplicates the look of Naked Raku but is done in an electric kiln with no reduction. It creates a cracked, painful look that contrasts nicely with the glossy glazes that I use in moderation. The use of colors and surface treatment is an important visual cue to the narrative."
Amber Aguire

Al Henderson, War Art exhibition & talk

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Visual Arts Alberta Gallery presents Light Horse Tales of an Afghan War, selected works by artist Al Henderson, October 6 - November 5 / 2011. VAAA Gallery, 3rd floor, 10215-112 St. Edmonton, 780.421.1731.

This exhibition contains new works from the Light Horse Tales project, sketches and other materials used in its creation – including the artists’ video diary. Seen through a chest mounted camera artwork is created for the Light Horse Tales project over a period of two years.

In association with this exhibition: Visual Arts Alberta presents The Art of War; in which writer and educator Dick Averns, creator of War Art Now, joins artist Al Henderson, creator of Light Horse Tales, for a joint presentation on art and war. Averns will discuss the history of War Art in Canada and how artists, like himself, see conflict today. Henderson will show his own process from its conceptual beginnings to the creation of various works using traditional stone carving and bronze casting methods in combination with 3D scanning and vector drawing programs on the computer. Learn how the stories of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan influenced choices of design, materials and methods of production. Saturday, October 22nd, 1 pm at the Jefferson Armoury Officers Mess, 11630-109 st. NW, Edmonton. This event is free and all are welcome. Cash bar on premises. See www.jeffersonarmouryofficersmess.info for more information (including directions).

The website www.lighthorsetales.com has more information and a selection of newspaper and magazine reviews of the premier exhibition. A full-colour catalogue including Dick Averns’ essay, Art and Afghanistan: Recalibrating Cultural Buffer Zones, is available - see website for details.

Artwork for this exhibition is made available to the VAAA Gallery courtesy of The Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, which premiered the exhibition of 17 new works by Canadian artist Al Henderson: Light Horse Tales of an Afghan War, March 19 - April 2 / 2011

Klara Petra Szabo, painter & animator

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

The feelings I illustrate on the paper very according to my moods and emotional deepness itself. I always try to visualize on my paintings, shows my feelings, my environment, my friends, and my life. My paintings usually small size, complex designs that attempt to reflect my sense of the times we are living in.

In my recent works the technical duality inspired. The painting with the hand transformation in a digital form is aroused my interest. I melded the traditional watercolor technique with a digital diction in my animations.
Klara Petra Szabo

108 diverse new figurative artists join FigurativeArtist.org

2011-09-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer for our site! 108 new members since our last update and of course, they're a fascinating and very diverse talented bunch. Here's just a few but to see them all, hop over to FiguartiveArtist.org page 20 and wander through our site. http://www.figurativeartist.org/20_art_representing_the_human.htm

From the highly polished portraits of Ann Manry Kenyon in Florida, USA to...

the bold black and white character drawings of Bill Harrison from Chicago

to mixed media artist Papagrebou from Brieuil, France, the styles of artists who approach the human form express themselves in such wonderful different ways. That's the big attraction of our site, our diversity within the same focus on the human form.

Joining us from Tehran, Iran is Nikoo Tarkhani who brings us dark, moody mysterious paintings.

Ariel Oren creates bold colorful images in his studio in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Gérard Marchand creates lustrous smoldering painted surfaces in Touraine, France.

Coming from Distrito Federal, Mexico is Carolina Tangassi whose juicy life paintings simmer with rich color and light, expressing the human form with bold brushstrokes.

Christopher Hickey shows his human side with great drawing and bold printmaking and works in Georgia, USA.

Michel Bell from Quebec City, Canada captures the excitement and tension in sports which nicely rounds out the "something for everybody" and offers sports fans something exciting to see in the art world.

Luke Haynes from Brooklyn, NY, USA creates figurative art through his masterful art quilts which are well worth a look.

Working in his ceramic studio in Ireland, Christy Keeney works with handbuilt clay to bring us lovely simple lines and great expressions.

Using ceramics in a completely different way, Pavel Amromin from Chicago creates some great expressive vignettes which sometimes tackle some difficult and violent subject matter.

Jacquline Hurlbert, a ceramic artist from Portland, OR, USA combines sculptural ceramics and painting, creating lively characters.

Doll artist Lisa Renner assembles her quirky little characters from all kinds of things, quite inspiring and from such humble beginnings, her small humans grow.

Karim Hamid from USA adds some spice in the bedroom with his big smooshy intimate scenes with nude figures.

Peter Kennelly from Ireland paints dramatic scenes with many characters and lots of personal tension almost like watching a play.

Victoria P Wonnacott from Canada deals with many subjects including some tough scenes as shown here in "First You Must Be Blinded". She works in paint and mixed media.

My final pick for this little sampling of what's on offer on pages 20 through 23 is Synthia Saint James from Los Angeles. She works in a very flat narrative manner and her paintings tell many stories.

Come and visit us, come and join us and please print out a poster from our site and put it up around your corner of the world. I can hardly wait to see who we get for our next update later this Fall. Have a grand day!!
Cheers- Paula O'Brien

Dominique Amendola, plein air portraits

2011-09-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was born in France in Paris. When I turned 16, I had had enough of learning science, math, chemistry and physics, subjects imposed by my school and contrary to my nature. As a result I enrolled in a preparatory school ( Atelier Beaudry) for Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Arts Decoratifs de Paris and studied there two years. Then after passing the examination successfully I entered Ecole Des Arts Decoratifs School. I studied for four years there and afterwards went to Italy for a year of specialized studies at the Vatican and Villa Borgese. All together I studied art for almost eight years.

It was not long before I was sent to paint for a book publisher in Los Angeles. I painted there for the BBT for ten years, along with seven other artists. While working for the BBT and later Mandala Media, I also went to India and spent four months at an art school in Madras where I learned transcendental proportions – amongst other things I learned that the bodily proportions for Vishnu differ from those of Shiva, other demigods, men, goddesses etc. Those studies helped me understand a bit more about traditional Vedic art.

Before that, my work was always rooted in European art education. I spent many hours in Paris studying masters at the Louvre and going to many art exhibits. There is nothing better for an artist than seeing art physically, rather than in books or online.

My work has been exhibited a bit all over the world: USA, France, India. I am currently showing at the Time and Space gallery and the Streisand art foundation in Bangalore, India.

I am what you call an oil painter. I almost exclusively paint in oils. I actually learned the art of grinding my own pigments and I am also making my own medium according to the Maroger formula. Most of my production is figurative, and I draw my inspiration from both Europe and india. I also painted quite a few portraits, as well as some commissioned art.

After many years of artistic accomplishments, I find that I still prefer to paint the mystical aspect of the world; even so I am also capable to paint a plein air piece or a portrait quite successfully.
Dominique Amendola

Sandrine Pelissier, watercolor portraits

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I grew up in France but have been living in Canada for the last 12 years, I am currently located in North Vancouver and work from a studio on Pemberton Avenue.

Watercolor is my medium of choice because of the unique way it allows me to render light. The transparency of this medium can make it look like the painting is lit from behind and the light is shining through the paper In my portraits, I like to tell stories about the people around me. I am very interested in childhood fantasy or fairy tales (I wish it would snow Flowers, Hair Balloon, Georgia, the Spanish dress and the Eclectus Parrot). I also like to induce a dialogue with the viewer in some paintings dealing more with introspection and mood (Mixed, In the studio).

Those portraits are not about likeness or knowing the people that are being painted, as I see my models as actors in a movie, they are the faces that will allow me to tell a story or to show emotions. Those faces are a source of endless fascination and I find the subtlety that can be achieved with watercolor well suited to the complexity of the human face.

My technique involves the accumulation of many transparent layers of watercolor. Then I like to incorporate mixed media in the background, work sometimes with some contouring. I also sometimes like to add some drawing on top of the painting or some graphic elements.

BC cityscapes and landscapes are another great opportunity for me to explore light, with reflections on water, windows, street lights, and rain on shiny sidewalks.

Since 2002 I am an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and obtained the Associate Membership status in 2010. I am also a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and San Diego Watercolor Society since 2010. My paintings have been exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions in Canada and in the United States. I had a feature article in the August 2009 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine, have been published in a few books including the next book of the Splash series,( North Light Books' hardbound showcase of the best in contemporary watercolors) Splash 11 New directions: the Best of Watercolor, Splash 12 Celebrating Artistic vision , and the book, Best of Watermedia Worldwide (Kennedy publishing). I will also be part of Splash 13 Alternative Approaches, still in edit.
Sandrine Pelissier

Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong, modernist ceramic sculpture

2011-09-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

Using porcelain, forms are thrown, then cut up, altered and reassembled using black slurry. The surface is sponged off. The sculpture is dried then sanded, accentuating the scored black lines lending the sculpture its “stitched” effect. Glazed or unglazed, fired to cone 6 oxidation.
Jocelyn Braxton Armstrong
Modernist ceramic sculpture

Sandrine Bouleau, sculpture figuratif

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

Née à Chimay, en Belgique, Sandrine Bouleau , vit depuis une vingtaine d’années à Bruxelles. Graduée en Art du Tissu, elle est devenue sculpteur par passion. Diplômée de l’Académie RHOK où elle y poursuit une spécialisation. En 2005, elle reçoit la mention du jeune artiste, à la biennale de sculpture du centre culturel de la défense, pour son œuvre « Pensées de femmes ».
Elle exprime aujourd’hui sa sensibilité dans le travail de la terre et du bronze. Il est indispensable pour elle de se confronter le plus souvent possible au modèle vivant, et d’essayer de comprendre les rouages de cette fabuleuse « mécanique », dotée de raison et débordante d’émotions, qu’est le corps humain. Ces dernières années, ses recherches sont axées sur la matière, la représentation de plus en plus abstraite du modèle. Expérimenter de nouvelles idées, techniques et dimensions. Apprendre et découvrir quelque chose de nouveau chaque jour.
Sandrine Bouleau Figurative sculpture, Belgium

Serena Potter, personal narrative painting of pain and illness

2011-09-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

For the past several years I have been dealing with the effects of the human Parvo B19 virus. My current body of work is a personal narrative about my experiences with the chronic illness that has resulted. I paint figures and still lifes that address themes of private pain vs. public persona, struggle and submission, gravity, loss of identity, time, and sleep. I work in oil on panel or canvas.

In my work I make notable use of chiaroscuro. I was inspired at first by Baroque painters such as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Georges de la Tour. More recently, however, I have turned to the vivid cinematic lighting and compositional elements used in film noir. Dark shadows, tenebrous space, cropping and the use of diagonals, as well as the staging of unlikely situations, all impart an air of mystery and improbability to my pictorial approach. It is my intent that the viewer be able to view my paintings without an overt understanding of my personal narrative, but rather, through their sense of the drama, bring their own interpretations to, and derive their own stories from, my paintings.
Serene Potter

Michael Mararian - elements of contradiction

2011-09-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

My work explores elements of contradiction. I am especially interested in examining how humor and tragedy coexist within our society. In my recent work, I deconstruct the American dream touching upon such topics as gross consumerism, school violence, teenage disappointments, pressures and the slowly growing social isolation that are part of our childhood and adult culture. The use of contradiction is an integral part of my work to magnify the absurdity of any given situation and draw a conflicting reaction from the viewer. Often times these themes are combined using real children as my inspiration from various forms of photography. I give the impression that my subjects are hovering in their environments, skin tones rendered in grey to add to their removed, unearthly state of being. They are part of this vibrant world yet quite alone.
Michael Mararian

Penney Bidwell, ceramic sculpture from the carnival

2011-09-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

I came into the world on April Fools’ Day, 1968, and was born into the carnival. My mother had been an accomplished ballerina turned sideshow dancer, and my father was a third generation carnie on one of the largest traveling carnivals. My great grandmother was the tattooed lady in the early 1900’s. My grandmother told stories of discrimination and rejection by society--carnies were like gypsies and people paid money to see them but did not want them in their shops or homes. These stories touched me deeply.
I have always been interested in the human experience and the human psyche. After completing my Masters degree in psychology, I realized a deeper ambition resided in the arts. After attending a sculpture class in 2006 I realized I had found my vehicle for expression.
I strive to capture the intimate and internal experience in my artwork. My figures each stand alone, even when part of a group. Each character emerges from the clay directly from my subconscious--characters of imagination, past experiences, family stories, motherhood, fairy tales, and dreams. They are soulful beings, reflective of deep inner experiences: joy, sadness, pride, or embarrassment. Whatever the feeling, it is part of the experience of being human.
Technically, my sculptural pieces are made from clay and combine slips, stains, glazes, and found objects. Each sculpture is multi-fired. My intent is not to control my inspirations, but to remain open and let the imagery inspire me as it develops. My subconscious guides my hands, and the story unfolds as I work. The mystery of not knowing where a piece will take me and what I will discover is part of the process that inspires me.
Penney Bidwell

Richard Stuttle lively sports paintings

2011-08-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

British painter Richard Stuttle isolates the intense, fleeting beauty of extreme sports in superbly crisp, spectacular and often-vertiginous oil compositions. From pristine slopes in the French Alps, where he spends winters painting and snowboarding, to gritty city streets where he follows skateboarders and parkour practitioners, Stuttle alternates between nearly photographic hyperrealism and a vividly lit and stylized aesthetic evocative of Expressionist woodblock prints. Both approaches suggest passionate reverence for athletes. When meticulously detailed, his paintings pay tribute to the perfected physical and mental conditioning of contemporary athletes in a manner similar to classical Greek sculpture. In the comparatively more dramatic urban scenes, the silhouetted sportsmen become mysterious creatures more akin to superheroes.

In both cases, Stuttle foregrounds the sublime rush of sports like skiing and surfing, transferring their surge of adrenaline to gripping tableaux. Figures are perfectly composed yet simultaneously on the verge of losing control. Stuttle focuses our attention on his sharply rendered athletes, beacons of poise amidst blurred landscapes tumbling off into the distance.
Richard Stuttle

Rachel Talbot bronze figurative sculpture brings Beatrice Potter to life

2011-08-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Rachel Talbot is a highly talented young artist who revels in creating bronze sculptures that exemplify her love of literature ranging from Grimm's fairy tales to Charles Dickens, and the work of children's illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Beatrice Potter.

Quoted as saying, "In my artistic journey through life I have every intention of indulging my imagination and like Peter Pan I strive never to grow up!" her work is full of merriment and humour. And yet her pieces celebrate a piercing range of human qualities, born of close observation of human experience. The centred grace of "Encore", the poise and calm of "Serenity", the hauteur of "The Honoured Guest" are engaging, vivid, human qualities that resonate in the onlooker. Her charming, seductive pieces are enlivened by vibrant patinas and animated gestures and movements. At once nostalgic yet uniquely modern, skilful in execution yet playful in effect, bringing a smile to our faces, her work is a delight and a gift for the future.
Rachel Talbot

Tom Montan, painting the homeless

2011-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

My current work is a series of portraits (48" x 48" oil on wood panels) that focuses on the growing homeless population in America and in my hometown, which I am juxtaposing against backdrops of ornate wallpaper designs. The goal of these large realist portraits is to highlight a universal struggle for survival. This colorful group that exists on the fringes of society gives me inspriration in the way they address adversity and how their characters often shine in spite of circumstance. A familiar sight on the street corners of almost every American city, this growing population is overlooked and disappears from view, much like the wallpaper in many homes..

I am treating my recent series of portraits in a stark manner, simplifying and amplifying emotions when possible. These individual characters are dealt with void of environment to remove the viewer from a specific time to witness these people on their own terms and placing them within the uniquely
foriegn backdrops of ornate wallpapers. My hope is that this focus will pull this disenfranchised group back into the context of home and highlight the place of home, which these people are without. Creating art from this perspective is intended to put these individuals in a place of honor and focus.

The larger idea of these paintings is about being in particularly uncomfortable states of place and time, reflecting a contrast with the ornate. I am attempting to pull the deeper emotional and dysfunctional ways in which we as a society isolate and minimize people we can't relate to or understand. These are questions that are meant to provoke viewers of these portraits largess (48'x48") and contrasting images.
Tom Montan

Nuno Evaristo, bold approach to contemporary figure painting

2011-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I began experimenting with Abstract art age: 18, and to this day, I am an untrained artist. I moved to London, England in the early 90's to pursue my interests in art, music and poetry. I'm actively exhibiting in the London area, as well as internationally.

Much of the content of my work comes from everyday life experiences, put through a very personal filter: - A journey into myself where chaos becomes order, then chaos again. It’s an integral part of my style to incorporate any kind of techniques & materials into my work.

Art for me is the highest form of expression; life is not only about creation, but destruction too, about bridges burnt as well as built. "Welcome to the world of Nuno Evaristo: maybe it's your world too".
Nuno Evaristo

Josta Keil figure painting, lost in thought

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

My work concerns itself with human beings and their inner state. A purely external viewpoint doesn't interest me at all. The outer form is solely a frame for the inner feelings.

Usually I paint my figures into scenes in which they reveal themselves to be lost in thought and vulnerable. In doing this I want to bring out the intensity of the moment, that of a brief expression. This short moment, which seems so unspectacular and which mostly passes by unnoticed, is a deep, moving experience because it reveals the fundamental, the inner being for a fleeting moment; it gives an insight into the soul.

As well as this, the cooperation with my models during the production of the sketches and studies is important for my art.

I go through each scene and situation with my model and develop a story with which the model can identify with, until an authentic feeling and expression is able to develop which corresponds to my inner vision, or inspires me to develop something new.
Josta Keil

Karen Frey encaustic painting

2011-08-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Encaustic has been my medium of choice in my most recent work. Encaustic is a Greek term meaning "to burn in" and refers its the fusing process. As a lifelong painter, this is most beautiful, challenging, and alluring medium I have ever attempted to approach. As always, I interpret representational imagery with a painters sensibilities.
Karen Frey

Mark Cross. the water bathers

2011-08-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

Born in Auckland in 1955, Mark Cross began making art during his mid teens. At the age of 23 he moved with his family to his wife’s village, Liku, on the island of Niue and it was during these early years that a strong philosophic and stylistic foundation was established for his career as an Artist. There was disillusionment with the institutional oriented nature of the art scene in New Zealand and the isolation provided both the inspiration and lack of distraction needed to develop his work in an individualistic way.

Having achieved this he returned to New Zealand in 1982 in order to find a market for his work and since then he has developed a reputation as one of the South Pacific’s leading realist Artists.

Cross now divides his time between studios in Niue and New Zealand and although the work is very specific in it’s detail, reference to these countries is restricted to the use of local elements for the creation of a timeless, lateral world where his figures act out and question the foibles of humanity but never try to proffer answers.

The linear perspective of history has been replaced by a cyclical understanding of time, an understanding that the Artist has achieved by his closeness to nature while in Niue. Cross’s figures are totally integrated with the landscape and there’s never a feeling that nature is dominated by human kind. This is the basis of a complex philosophy that the Artist transfers into his images and in their ethereal, visionary way the works warn of the dire ecological imperatives that face both a small island and a planet.

Mark Cross has achieved through his work a uniqueness that avoids the trappings of regionalism, so often associated with realism, and replaces them with an acutely perceptive worldview. During the nineties however the artist has ventured into other areas of art production with the establishment of a sculpture park in the rain forest in the east of Niue. A collaboration with his wife and several other artists, crafts people and musicians saw the creation of the Shrine to Abundance, an installation inside a shipping container that toured Australia, New Zealand and went to Rarotonga more recently. His paintings however are his main focus and are to be found in many private and corporate collections in Australasia, America and Europe.
Mark Cross

Frank Eric Zeidler, painting the Gods

2011-08-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

For years I had been cutting figures out of paper and using the cut out as a stencil in painting. These methods left the figure as a negative space in an expanse of paint. This absence of material within the space of the figure leaves a metaphorical shadow, and so the body can be seen as spirit. It is spirit that animates the body and separates us from the earth we come out of, if only for a brief moment. Each body is spirit manifest; each body is a God. At the same time, the figures exist only in the context of earth, of paint. It is paint that defines the physical world surrounding the figure and ties the spirit back to its own shadow, physical nature and the earth. The spirit, transient and ephemeral, must live in this material universe, and out of that brief existence and union of opposites comes suffering, joy, hunger, love, and all the qualities of humanity.

When I am asked what I paint I tell people that I paint the Gods. In my work, the representation of the human being is the meeting place of body and spirit; earth is the playground of the spirit, the body is earth animated with spirit. I paint the Gods and the earth and the people that inhabit the realm between the two. Gods, earth and people, they are all one and the same.
Frank Eric Zeidler

3rd Annual Figurative Drawing & Painting Competition Autumn 2011

2011-08-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

Third Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition Autumn Exhibition
Oct. 29 - Dec. 9, 2011

Opening reception on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, from 7 – 9 p.m.

This is a national, juried visual art competition and exhibition that is open to two-dimensional figurative artists, working in painting, drawing or printmaking, who are over the age of 18. This year’s juror is Cindy Stockton Moore, a Philadelphia-based painter and writer. Cindy will select the exhibition works and announce the awards during her gallery talk at the opening reception. Download the competition entry form.

Here is a link to the Lore Degenstein Gallery page, with a downloadable entry form:
http://www.susqu.edu/arts/24173.asp

Prize money:
Best of Show - $1500
Second Prize - $1000
Third Prize - $700
Fourth Prize - $500
Fifth Prize - $300

Barbara Shark, painting people for 40 years

2011-07-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

I have been making paintings for 40 years. I am interested in the way people and things look. I observe friends and family in their environments; working, playing, eating, caught unaware. I've made drawings and paintings of these moments in between; their personal, metaphoric and art historical connotations. I strive to depict likeness with curiosity and affection and have discovered that in investigating the particularities of my subjects I find beauty and a connection to the vast pool of human stories.

In my studio, I work from a flat, 2 dimensional photograph to create an illusion of real space on a flat, 2-dimensional canvas. In a painting, all the parts are on the same surface. I create the illusion that separates form from 'background' but the reality for me is that all is one. The marks I make abut, they share edges ...a wall touches an arm which sits right next to the sky. These edges need to be defined or concealed and here lie the difficulties and the excitement in painting for me.

For the last six years I have been painting with only black, white and grey. I find I can get down to the essence of forms and ideas and achieve a sense of ‘realness’ surpassing that of the paintings made using a full color palette. These technical painting considerations guide my exploration of connections and an inquiry into the nature of life and community. It is thrilling to experience the physical reality of my painting as the mirror for these bigger ideas.
Barbara Shark

Lucien Freud, dead at 88

2011-07-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

On July 20 in London, the great painter Lucian Freud passed away. He was 88 and had long since established himself as the last in a line of English masters stretching back to Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, and J.M.W. Turner. He’d also established himself as a classic bohemian who spent hard, drank hard, screwed hard, and painted even harder. He found debt stimulating, he once said; married twice, he had untold children by any number of lovers. You could always feel the chaos in his life in the chaos of his canvases, and you were supposed to. A Freud portrait could make a sitter seem as skewed as the artist himself on a bender—even when that sitter was Elizabeth II.

Freud was famous for demanding hundreds of hours with his models; he needed those hours because his art was all about taking the procedures of his British precursors and pumping them up till they burst. Freud doesn’t describe, in measured tones, what a particular person is actually like. Instead, he makes pictures that scream flesh, duration, observation, and paint to trump the tidy Britishness of any other master.
Read full article by Blake Gopnik

Info about our figurative artists

2011-07-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here's how our members break down after a year and a half including Bob Doucette, above who just joined today:
592 figurative artists with great work and great sites are already up on the site.
68 have accepted but I still need more info.
15 are still considering it.

Of these 697, 333 are female, 345 are male like above Franco Castelluccio and about 8, I'm not quite sure.
About 6 couples have both husband and wife as listed artists.
11 declined my invitation.

Of the 80 who submitted to the site, 23 were rejected for not enough figurative work, poor site or just not a strong enough personal vision.

The countries we come from including new member Nikoo Tarkhani from Tehran, Iran:
2 Argentina
5 Australia
1 Austria
1 Azerbaijan
3 Belgium
136 Canada
1 Chile
1 China
1 Colombia
1 El Salvador
1 Finland
22 France
4 Germany
1 Iceland
1 India
1 Iran
3 Israel
3 Italy
3 Japan
11 Mexico
1 Monaco
3 Netherlands
2 New Zealand
1 Poland
1 Romania
1 Russia
1 Slovenia
6 Spain
1 Slovenia
1 South Africa
1 Sweden
1 Taiwan
42 United Kingdom, including 13 England, 1 Northern Ireland and 6 Scotland
2 Ukraine
386 USA
105 I'm still waiting for this country info

Our blog has had 9,877 visits with more than half coming from referring sites, and our site has had 34,508 visits with about 3 pages per visit. In the last 2 months, our site has averaged about 90 visits per day. Image above by UK painter Sue Rubira.

Onwards and upwards and thanks for helping create a fascinating neighborhood of artists and art enthusiasts! Have a grand summer and keep cool.

William K. Moore, Chicago painter

2011-07-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

My task remains the same from the first day I picked up a brush, pushed it into paint and placed it on paper: to create a two dimensional image that evokes a response from the viewer. A personal, visual dialog has developed, grown and matured over 30 years – amazing! Personal is the key word here. My span on this globe allows me a moment, an opportunity to make an impression among fellow beings. How will this time manifest and play out over the years? .. Now that's a question.

Recent techniques I've employed into a collage type process (I call Xixtography) allow added possibilities while creating the art object. My work now tends towards a blend of standard painting technique and the structured technique involved in Xixography.
William K. Moore

Melody Owens - Hollywood paintings

2011-06-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am captivated by the mystery behind a face that makes a person beautiful and iconic. I look to capture the radiance of soft light diffusing certain features contrasted by bright colors and textures. I play with the balance of abstraction, loose and soft painterly strokes to tightly rendered details and realism.

My base media of choice is acrylic followed by oil, though sometimes mixing it up by starting with a gouache under painting. Often I embellish my art with jewels, the glossy shine of silver leaf or strong rustic textures to amplify luminescence and exaggerating values. I am drawn to paint figures in classic beauty, illuminating with a Hollywood glow to revive vintage elegance with a contemporary edge.
Melody Owens

Pilar Mehlis - virtues and vices

2011-05-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Pilar Mehlis features dynamic compositions that use symbols drawn from historical visual language as well as Greek mythology, and symbols that are culled from the artist's own experience. Of particular importance is imagery relating to vices and virtues and their transformative powers. Through the power of imagination, Pilar explores the possibilities of this language by populating her canvases with creatures familiar yet "revised" to suit her purposes.

Pilar Mehlis is known for her classically influenced works with a "twist" that make them wholly relevant to the postmodern age. Her images are richly allegorical and often incorporate human and animal relationships. The animals in these relationships are symbolic and metaphorical, as they serve as foils for or extensions of the human psyche.
Pilar Mehlis

Leni Levenson Wiener - figurative art textiles

2011-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

As a former photographer, I still see the world through the lens of a camera. I think of my artistic style as photo-journalistic in nature. My pieces begin with a photograph that, more often than not, is taken without the subject being aware of the camera. I am careful to alter each person’s appearance to protect the privacy of those whose photos I use.

Beginning with a photo gives me all the information I need—perspective, proportion, shadow—but alterations are made to each photo to fit the mood and finished look I envision. I carefully choose from only commercially available fabric, taking into consideration color, value, and print scale, in order to create a dynamic and complex surface design. The edges of the fabric are left raw, and puckers are allowed to remain, as they are the inherent qualities of fabric. Detail work is often done with either thread sketching or thread painting—using the sewing machine to draw with thread. I share my techniques in my two books; Thread Painting and Photo-inspired Art Quilts.
Leni Levenson Wiener
Please visit my website www.leniwiener.com for information about my work, my books, and the workshops and lectures I offer.

Daena Title - Drown the Dolls

2011-05-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Daena Title's long-term obsession with women's issues and contemporary dynamics led her to mine the Barbie doll as metaphor in her recent series of paintings and photographs. For "DROWN the DOLLS", Title submerged the Barbie doll (and herself) in a backyard pool and then aimed her camera upwards towards the under-side of the pool's surface. The resulting images of both doll, pubescent girls, and their distorted reflections pit what is "true" vs. what is false. The reflections, the Barbie doll, the paint: all represent a reality that is simultaneously distorted and representational. This overlap of tensions and contrasts allow the visceral and the intellectual to reinforce and reflect one another in continuing, reverberating dialogue.

Daena Title is represented by the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in LA, CA , USA.

Brett Amory - urban images

2011-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

The painting series entitled “Waiting” depicts the urban individual's yearning for presence and the seeming impossibility of attaining it. The paintings portray commuters in transit immersed in either a quiet, even hopeful state or, alternately, an anguish of unfulfilled anticipation.

At first, the series, begun in 2001, depicted travelers waiting underground. But as the paintings evolved, the people ceased to be exclusively travelers, and began to emphasize figures selected from anonymous snaphots of city streets. Although the experience of waiting remains, the perception of it has changed from one of mundane task to one leavened with transcendence.

The series has also charted the evolution of an artist—the reductive elements of the compositions provide an outward echo of the inner states of the figures. By reducing the elements of the painting as far as possible, a frozen moment is extended.

Lastly, I have developed favored motifs in the series, a kind of visual music, such as repetition of a human image, to show not only the passage of time but of the human being through it.
Brett Amory

Marko Lubonic, portrait and figure painter

2011-04-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

My recent works involve mainly the exploration of the portrait and the figure as extending static foreground features of the landscape they are present in. Through these subjects, I attempt to portray the ethereal intimacy between the beings and the nature they inhabit, defining beings primarily as sensual entities before reasoning ones. As a result, a surreal narrative emerges, a moment suspended in time, static.

My technique and palette, inspired by impressionists and old masters, is often a battle between the effect and the likeness, the composition and the theme. When it all comes to peace, color, form and earthly atmosphere, leads me to the surreal and the cryptic nature of the sensual.
Marko Lubonic

Lyndall Bass - a reflection of classical traditions

2011-04-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lyndall Bass began studying art seriously as a young girl, then moved on to studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Her work is a reflection of classical traditions, focused on visionary modern interpretations in the mediums of oil paint and graphite pencil.

Bass is the recipient of a United Nations International Women’s Year Award, a National Society of Arts and Letters Award and a Franklin Mint Award of Excellence. She holds a BA in Art and an MA in Instructional Systems Design from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Bass is the designer of the permanent 2010 Lincoln Penny Reverse, known as the “Shield Cent”. She is listed in Wikipedia.
Lyndall Bass

64 new artists up on Figurative Art site

2011-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

There's certainly something for every taste in the 64 most recent artists to join our figurative artist directory. From gutsy to swelligant, from art textiles to cast bronze, from chunky mixed media to cool smooth oil on panel, there are many tempting things to see and 64 new studios to jump over and visit. Enjoy the Art Crawl around our fine international neighborhood of artists who focus on the human form.

Janis Mars Wunderlich

Lori-Ann Latremouille

Regina Hurley

Neil McClelland

Melody Owens

Ian Ingram is 500th member of FigurativeArtist.org

2011-03-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ian Ingram from New York is the 500th artist to join us on FigurativeArtist.org. His works is done in charcoal, mixed media and some also features some embroidery. I'd love to see it in the flesh but have to just enjoy his fine site for now. His site has a magnifying glass feature that lets you get up close and personal with each piece.
Ian Ingram

I was counting carefully to see who came in as number 500 but somehow had added something up wrongly. I had to carefully go back from our real current number of 507 so see who came through the door with their permission slip. I only move people from accepting my invitation to actual members once they send back their permission and info form.We'll be updating the site in the next 2 weeks to show off all our new members, at least 61 of them but I'm sure we'll have more over the next 2 weeks.

If you have some free time and like to visit artists' sites I would love to have you as one of my researchers. I already have a big list of artists whose fine work has caught my eye. I can send you a little chunk on a spreadsheet and you could find their sites and email addresses for me. This would help me enormously as I would then only have to assess the site/work and then send out my invitation to a group of them. Finding their sites can be very quick or take a bit of searching and some just can't be found. If their site can't be found but their work is interesting, I mark those to look up again next year. Please let me know if you would like to help with some research for me and I'll send you some names to look up.

I do pick away at this fine project after hours and if all my time is spent just locating artist's site, that takes time away from working on the blog or publicizing our site in any way. Anyway, I'm off to work now, can't put it off any longer. Will bake some celebratory brownies this afternoon and pig out tonight to celebrate our 500th member in just one year. Keep up the good work in the studio, guys and gals and spread the word about our fine site.
Cheers! Paula

Daniel Ludwig, Heather Grindley, Maggie Toole join figurative artist site

2011-03-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Paula, Your site looks great. I would be happy to be involved. Thanks for your interest,
Daniel Ludwig

Hi Paula, Many thanks for including me on your figurative web site. The links check out, spelling is correct...wow, it's great to be included! I have just finished looking up Harry Ally's work and videos, his work speaks volumes to me, very inspiring. Thank you, thank you!!
Heather Grindley

WOW Paula!

What a site! I haven't gotten back to you for the last three days because I haven't been able to pull myself off it for the last three days!!! Wandering wandering wandering....

You must get this reaction from all of the figurative artists you contact because it is obviously our favorite subject matter, making your site a dream.

Thank you for the invitation and yes I would be honored to be included. Your invitation comes at a time of new beginnings with my work, confirming once again how the things of this world work so beautifully sometimes.
Maggie Toole

Welcome new artists to FigurativeArtist.org! It's nice to see you here.

Walter Horak

2011-03-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Any contemporary artist working in the figurative tradition has a least two challenging questions to answer. One is, “Who are your antecedents?” The other is, “ What have you got to add to a tradition that is several millennia old?”

As to the first question, three main elements in my work have three corresponding sources. In terms of overall balanced design and relatively accurate proportion, ancient Western sculpture, as far back as the Greeks, is a first key source. I might add Michelangelo here as well. The feeling of immediacy in my sculpture and an active surface quality are a second hallmark, and the more recent source for that derives from the works of Degas, Rodin, and German expressionists like Barlach and Kollwitz. Movement and the orchestration of multiple figures in space define a third element, and these have the third and quite contemporary reference point: modern dance and related forms of physical/psychological expression.

The second imperative for the figurative artist - to say something meaningful or original - is infinitely more difficult (in fact many contemporary artists who embrace entirely new forms for the sake of being new often have a lesser aesthetic challenge than someone still engaged with the figure.) Here I’ll quote the art critic Donald Kuspit who described sculpture as “metaphor-making in three dimensions.” Because for me the human form remains a powerfully familiar and direct instrument of expression, I use it comparatively in order to extend my sense of the world or at least to make imaginative connections between disparate things. So, for instance, in one previous series of sculptures, figures were organized in space as if they were elements of architecture and claimed titles like “Buttress”, “Tower”, and “Cantilever”.

My humble intention then is to make new metaphors, with the human figure a key component. I suspect the work should look at once old and new. On one hand, it has a familiar authority simply because the figure is present. On the other hand, the choreography of figures has an implied and compelling metaphor that should present something of a new challenge for a viewer.
Walter Horak joins Figurative artist group FigurativeArtist.org

100 Artists of the Male Figure

2011-03-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

100 Artists of the Male Figure
A Contemporary Anthology of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture

E. Gibbons brings to you, what is being referred to as, "The very first anthology of living artists of the classical male figure." Works include contemporary, living artists of all genre from shocking realism to lively abstraction, making special note that this book contains NO photography, NO cartoons, NO digital art, and NO erotic images.

Atglen P.A. — Images of the classical female figure are more prevalent in the contemporary figurative art world, as the nude male has been shunned as too potent or treated as a sex symbol. This book bravely showcases works by male and female artists from around the world, including Iran & China, that focus on this classic subject. Painting, drawings, and sculptures display broad and varied styles, including portraiture, studies, Pop Art, abstract, and photorealism.

Read each artist’s approach to the male figure through candid personal statements. Nearly 400 works capture masculine beauty in many styles. This resource brings balance to the figurative art world and is an ideal reference for artists, curators, dealers, students, and collectors. The author states in his introduction that there are many others who deserve to be here, but for lack of space, may be included in volume two should they be so fortunate.

E. Gibbons encourages his readers to explore the genre more fully by reviewing the artists' contact page in the back of the book. "You may approach them via their websites, galleries, or e-mails, feel free to ask questions, compliment, or even inquire about a purchase or commission," he says. "Each of these fine artists is creating work that I feel is visually priceless. Enjoy!"

E. Gibbons studied art in the United States and Osaka, Japan, and has exhibited around the world.
He is the resident artist and owner of the Firehouse Gallery in Bordentown, New Jersey. Contact the author at the website: www.100artistsbook.com

Gibbons' book sells for $50.00 and can be purchased through the publisher at www.schifferbooks.com or your local bookseller.

Figurative Artist.org celebrates one year birthday!

2011-03-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hooray! FigurativeArtist.org is now officially one year old!!! On March 16, 2010, I sent out over 300 email invitations to join this exciting free online directory of figurative artists working in every medium. I had a very enthusiastic response and have been busily growing our great site ever since.

Peter Clark, above, was the first to say yes. I had started with a small number of special invitations to have a web page to attract these artists to but Peter was the first responder to this first big mail out.

We launched our first Youtube slideshow in August and there are plans for future themed slide shows on female nude, male nude, emotional range and political and social issues interpreted by these fine artists and fine craftsmen interested in the human form.

Alphabetically, we range from Sigmund Abeles

... to Israel Zzepda. Geographically, we come from from Argentina and Azerbaijan to Ukraine, UK and USA.

We work in clay, bronze, paint, photography, textiles and even basketry seen here by Alastair Heseltine.

Victoria Rose Martin charms us with her quirky ceramics...

... and Ingrid Dee Magidson dazzles us with her costume dramas.

Our numbers are split practically evenly between male and female artists.

In our first year, out site has had 22,278 visits with averages of nearly 3 pages and 4 minutes, from 128 countries.

42% came from search engines, 31% from referring sites (THANKS!!!) and 22% from direct traffic. This blog has had 6,411 visits and our Youtube slide show is up around 2,100.

As of this morning, we have almost 500 figurative artists who have either accepted my invitation or submitted to this free site. I'm working on new pages to show off their work and am looking into having a searchable format or section so artists could be searched by medium, location, etc. When we get to our 500th, I will celebrate with a big tray of brownies and will let you know who it turns out to be... Thanks to our team of helpers Jana, Ann-Marie, Sarah Emily and Gordana.

Come and visit, come and join us, come and be inspired by beautiful to grotesque, precise to loose, humorous to serious, dazzling fine art with a focus on the human form.

Yours in the trench,
Paula O'Brien FigurativeArtist.org - free online directory

Christy Lee Rogers presents her latest underwater art project

2011-03-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

In an adventurous journey for the senses Christy Lee Rogers presents her latest water project, titled Odyssey. With over a hundred larger than life size photographs, the images that make up this battle between spirit and flesh are charged with feelings of sensuality, mystery, freedom and intrigue. Rogers describes the collection as a poetic story wherein the viewer is the hero, traveling through a world filled with wonder and dangerous adventure; each image representing a character that embodies this other-worldly story of good versus evil.

Her modern mix of old Renaissance painting techniques and Expressionist juxtapositions is rarely, if ever, so beautifully realized in contemporary photography. Rogers’ neo figurative approach to image making is achieved using simple physics, involving the refraction and reflection of light through water. Creating all of her images in-camera, each image involves extensive experimentation using the elements of light, water, color and movement.
Christy Lee Rogers will join our Figurative Artist network.

Cristina Cordova figurative sculpture workshop Oct 2011

2011-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Come have an outstanding learning experience surrounded by the cultural richness of Puerto Rico and it's unique creative atmosphere! Students will become immersed in the tropical sights and flavors of Puerto Rico as they cultivate their sculptural skills and learn about the local culture and the remarkable collections of Puerto Rican art.

ULTRA-FIGURACIÓN
Cristina Córdova
Figurative Sculpture
DATE:

OCTOBER 3-7 2011 (Monday -Friday 9am -4pm -with additional elective events)

This intensive course is designed to further the students grasp of the human form through a series of lectures and exercises that will address both the technical as well as the conceptual aspects of figuration.

Through the use of models and diagrams the course will begin with a general study of anatomical premises and experiment with the expressive language of gesture through simple rendering excersises.

Students will then sculpt from life a detailed rendering from which they will create a hollow figurative ceramic sculpture suitable for firing.Techniques offered will include general anatomy,strategies for figurative rendering from visual sources,hollow slab construction and detailing skills for achieving clarity and interest in sculpture.

All levels are welcome.
LOCATION:
This workshop will take place in the Education Facility at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, located in the historical building Rafael M.de Labra in Santurce, Puerto Rico.
10% FROM TUITION,EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION!
FOR MORE INFORMATION: travel-arte.com

"Storytellers" Figurative Clay Exhibition

2011-03-02T10:05:00.000-08:00

"Storytellers", 10 sculptors working in clay

Clayton Galleries, Tampa, FL, March 29-April 30, 2011

Cheryl Tall

Gerit Grimm

Cynthia Siegel

Angel Dicosolo

Magda Gluszek

Misty Gamble

Priscilla Hollingsworth

Maria De Castro

Ceil Sturdevant

Nuala Creed

Cheryl Tall, "The Phoenician Couple". 2011, 48x22x27", ceramic

Exhibition Dates: March 29-April 30, 2011

Opening Reception: Friday, April 1, 7pm to 9pm

Special NCECA hours (week of March 28, 2011): Tuesday, March 29 – Thursday March 31, 10am to 5pm. Friday, April 1, 10am to 5pm and 7pm to 9pm- (opening reception). Saturday, April 2, 11am to 4pm

CLAYTON GALLERY

4105 S. MCDILL AVENUE

TAMPA FL 33611

813-831-3753

Joanne Beaule Ruggles captures the human body in art

2011-02-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

Throughout my career my goal has been to communicate the human condition through my artwork - whether I am painting or drawing. Struggling to capture the feel rather than the look of my subject(s), to capture the soul rather than the surface. My art functions as a mirror that reflects our humanity - my humanity. I want that reflection to be large, revealing, passionate, and even raw. Pleasantly skillful work does not interest me, not asking enough from the viewer or exposing enough of the creator. I prefer work that records an honest struggle - an intense and often an awkward search.

Along with traditional artist's tools, I employ a wide range of unorthodox implements including twigs, primitive dowel pens, trowels and abrasive materials in order to create the expressive marks needed to carry the emotional charge I desire within a certain work. My artwork is often initiated by building a chaotic field of colorful paint, abstract ink mark, and collaged shape because I enjoy making order out of apparent disorder. Entering this uncharted territory - full of risk, full of potential - provides me the exhilarating creative environment that I seem to require at this point.

I find this process has metaphoric relationship to life itself - we get the life that is delivered to us. We don't earn it any more than we deserve it. We just try to make sense of what comes our way, to do the best we can. This IS the human condition - my condition. I have walked with cancer. I am a survivor. I am finding my way.
Joanne Beaule Ruggles

65 new international figurative artists added

2011-02-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

I've been completely immersed in growing the FigurativeArtist.org site since early January and now they are up online. New additions from Azerbaijan to Taiwan! Check out our new pages, the bottom of page 13, page 14 and page 15. Here's a taste of some of our newest members...

Michael Reedy - anatomical paintings

Linda Friedman Schmidt - textiles, mixed media

Esther Shimazu - contemporary figurative ceramic sculpture

Pamela Wilson - contemporary figurative painting

Francisco Sepulveda - expressionistic figurative painting

Ben Heine - contemporary figurative painting with a unique circle approach

Oiseaux Sisters - mixed media

Susan Saladino - mixed media contemporary figurative sculpture

Jonathan Linton - classical contemporary figurative painting

Spread the news of this exciting art resource for art with a focus on the human form.

7 new figurative members, USA, Argentina, Canada

2011-01-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

New figurative artists coming when we next update the site...

Adam Reeder
USA - sculpture

Alejandro Pasquale
Argentina - painting, drawing

Ali Cavanaugh
USA - Modern Fresco

Ann Marshall
USA - Contemporary figurative, pastel or oil painting, and paper collage

Carrie Goller
USA - Painting and sculpture, oil, encaustic, egg tempera, mixed media

Chris Langstroth

Canada - painter

Dale Dunning
Canada - bronze and aluminum casting

6 more figurative artists coming soon

2011-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Riham ElSadany
Dear Paula,
My name is Riham ElSadany, i would like to join you marvelous online collaborative gallery.
Thank you,
Kind regards,
Riham ElSadany (Egypt)

Carole Feuerman (USA)
Hyperrealistic oil painted resin figures, bronze figures and spheres, monumental/installation works

Marie Fox
Hi Paula,
Thanks for writing and for directing me to your figurative art website. It's fabulous and I'd love to be a part of it. You asked if I had abandoned my site. I only post when I have a new painting and I've been working on some bigger (ie longer) paintings. So there are sometimes big gaps in my posts. But I do paint every day. I love painting and adore the figure. I appreciate your contacting me and thanks for organizing your wonderful site gathering together such interesting figurative artists.
Thank you,
Marie Fox (USA)

Ted Fusby
Hello Paula,
Thanks for the invitation to join your website. I would be honored to be listed and featured there. Feel free to use any of the images from my website (full access), and ask me if you want to use larger format pictures than I show on my site. I would also like to participate in your thematic slide shows, if they are a good fit for what you are doing.
Ted Fusby (USA)

Donna Gourdol
Paula, great. I saw that you had several of my artist friends on your site so I thought -why not. I have been following you on FB and enjoyed. Please feel free to chose the pieces you think best. I can send you High resolution of any you might need. And would enjoy being in a slide show or other. Good luck to you and my fellow artists. May 2011 be a great year for figurative Art and you!
PS- I am an American artist living and working in France. Thank you for your time. Great job you have done!
Donna (France)

Ben Heine
Hello Paula.
Thanks for your proposition. This site is beautiful. I'd be happy to see my works featured there. Please don't forget to mention a credit line with my blog and website.
You'll find some of my most interesting stuff on this link:
http://www.flickr.com/people/benheine/
And much more here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/sets/
Could you let me know when you post my images on your site?
Thanks
Ben (Belgium)

8 new artists coming soon to Figurative Artist Directory

2011-01-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

I'm on a big email campaign to gather new artists to our figurative artist directory. Alphabetically, here are a few of the ones coming soon...

Matt Abraxas
Hello Paula,
I'd be happy to be included in your site. Thank you for inviting me. I look forward to exploring it more soon. You have some excellent artists on there from the brief view I've taken so far.
Thank you,
Matt (USA)

Cristobal Anwandter
Dear Paula:
Congratulations about your proyect, I think it´s excellent. I´ve give you the permission to flat the image that you need of my web page www.cristobalanwandter.com Let me know for anything else. Thanks to invite me
Sincerely
Cristobal Anwandter (Chile)

Aldo Balding
Hi Paula ,
Thankyou for your e-mail , sounds interesting will take a look...
Love it , Yes , what do you need ?
Regards ,
Aldo (France)

Carolynn Bloomer
Totally swellegant.
Sure- I will look tomorrow and pick some pics.
Thanks!
Carolynn (Canada)

Linda Tracey Brandon
Dear Paula, I recently found out about your website - it is wonderful! I have linked your site to my blog. Here is my website - could you please consider me for inclusion, I would be honored to be in such talented company. Thanks again and best wishes on all your art sites, you are very impressive!
Best wishes, Linda (USA)

Chomick+Meder
Hi Paula,
Thank you for contacting us. Yes, we are interested in being listed on your website, it reminds me of the Beinart website and interesting collection of artists.
Best regards,
Chris Chomick (USA)

Rachel Constantine
Saw your site for the first time today, it is fantastic. I would be very interested in participating, see website below.
Thanks and have a great day,
Rachel :) (USA)

Tom Durham
I just visited your and was very impressed with it and your genrousity. I would like to submit m work to be included and would feel honored to be accepted.
Thanks
Tom Durham (USA)

New wine label, art by Kreg Yingst

2010-12-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

We bottled our latest batch of home made wine with our usual crew of four couples last September. We start with real freshly squashed grapes, press them and age the wine in an oak barrel in a friend's garage so it's the real deal and usually turns out pretty darned well. This year I decided to make a new label for our personal supply of about 72 bottles. Kreg Yingst has a great site of quirky woodcuts and other styles and is featured on our figurative artist site. His image above of the man with plates spinning on sticks sums up my own life and even has his own name in red already included within this print. My graphic designer sister-in-law Rowan helped me tweak my design balance with the lettering and spacing and I'm quite pleased with this amusing new label for our latest batch of Cabernet Merlot. When I first saw Kreg's work, it was these quirky woodcut style that really attracted me and I knew I'd use this one for something. Thanks Kreg! Thanks Rowan! Thanks fellow wine makers! Happy New Year to all!

Oiseaux Sisters workshop, summer 2011

2010-12-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Join us at Oiseaux South, our Gulfport studio for a weekend of mixed media papier mache play.
Beloved of window dressers, costumers, set designers, party planners, and puppeteers, Papier Maché is a versatile, low tech, affordable, and simple way to capture a form, a shape, a figure. We have streamlined the process and made it archival. Maché is an ideal way to experiment with jumping scale
and we will encourage participants to try working in a variety of sizes, from tiny to larger than life.
Limited to only 10 participants, beginners and serious artists alike will find approaches to energize and expand their work.

FEE: $285/weekend (Includes slide talk on Friday, lunches & snacks on Sat. & Sun and some studio supplies)
TO REGISTER and GET MORE INFORMATION: www.oiseauxsisters.com

SUMMER ART RETREAT IN MORAVIA, NEW YORK
Paradise Garden Revisited:
Adventurous Explorations With The Figure
July 24 - 29, 2011*
A week of mixed media play in our Moravia NY studios

Drop down the rabbit hole and come up in Paradise Garden. Adam & Eve, Toto and the Wicked Witch, Emily D. and dear departed Aunt Gertrude all await you, anticipating consideration, commemoration, celebration. This is a week with a mix of media, working large and small, solo and collaboratively to craft objects that tell someone’s story. We will work sometimes with memoir and history, sometimes with apocrypha, but always within that delicious tension between intention and execution as we savor all the uncertainties and risks inherent in the creative process.

$720 includes lab fee, 5 extravagant, healthy lunches, 2 sumptuous dinners, and daily lavish snacks.
*Special bonus: Session ends just in time for the Route 90 weekend of 50 miles of garage sales!
Registration and Deposit: Enrollment is limited in both sessions and early registration is recommended. A $150 deposit must accompany your registration. Your entire deposit will be applied toward tuition. Balance is due when you arrive for class.

TO REGISTER and GET MORE INFORMATION: www.oiseauxsisters.com

Jolanda Richter wishes us a good flight!

2010-12-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks everybody for sending me some nice seasonal images. This one is from Jolanda Richter wishing all her art friends an good flight and best of the season. Pretty nice stuff.

Francisco Sepulveda, bold rich paintings

2010-12-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Francisco Sepulveda is a very dynamic bold painter working in France. His works were featured in June 2010 AZART magaziPost Optionsne. Check out his colorful site and rich paintings.
www.Francisco-Sepulveda.com

Happy Holidays from my house to yours

2010-12-22T08:24:00.000-08:00

What a year it has been, so many ups and downs. I've made so many wonderful new connections through this site which is still less than one year old.

I'm sending all my best wishes for health and happiness from my home to yours. Happy holidays and wishing you the best New Year possible. Good luck with the whole balancing act that is life. See you in the new year! Play safe, enjoy your loved ones and make the most of the gift of life.
xxxxx Paula

Bonnie Melzter's fun mixed media art

2010-12-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Bonnie Meltzer's very mixed media sculpture -- wall works and free standing-- uses crocheted wire, digital photography, painted wood and all sorts of found objects from computer parts to credit cards to make social commentary that is often humorous. Her figures are often life sized, cut out of wood or metal with voids filled with transparent crocheted wire. Layer upon layer of shapes, objects and materials give richness to the surfaces and add to the storytelling. For example, in IN SIGHT the void is filled with eye glasses which look through to a layer of collaged old black and white family photographs. The lenses magnify the pictures and bring them into view.

For decades recycled junk has been a primary art material. Keeping things out of the landfill is a motivation but their intrinsic beauty and the opportunities for symbolism are the primary reasons. Computer parts with their intrusion into every aspect of our lives have given her a symbolic, visual and verbal vocabulary that has dominated her work over the years. Memory, communication and technology are recurrent themes fed by the computer discards. However, she is an equal opportunity recycler. Girdle garters, pen nibs, lamp shade frames, globes and lots of stuff she can't identify find their way into her artworks. Objects push the idea flow but often the idea comes first, necessitating a hunt for the materials that best express that particular thought.

"Clothes make the Man", or in Meltzer's case the figure. Painting, crocheted wire, digital images, and objects make the pattern of the garment which helps tell the story. In one series just recycled clothes are used. Even though the tangible body is missing it is still evident and expressive. Emphasis on hair helps define character, personality, and adds to the humor.

Jorge Santos and Jason Shawn Alexander in Miami

2010-12-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

101/exhibit is a unique space dedicated to exhibiting exceptional fine and decorative art and design. Located in the heart of Miami's Design District, 101/exhibit seeks to provide a dynamic program unrestricted by era, locale, or convention. Jorge Santos, above and Jason Shawn Alexander, below in new show through February 6, 2011.

Andrew Logan open mosaics studio London Dec 15, 16

2010-12-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Andrew Logan opens his studio in London, December 15, 16. This is a real treat that I got to go to a few years ago. Pop in if you're in the area! Funky big mosaic sculptures and mosaic paintings.

Janet McKenzie at the Haggerty Museum of Art

2010-12-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

The Janet McKenzie show at the Haggerty Museum of Art seems so well-timed for the holiday season. McKenzie, a Brooklyn native now living in rural Vermont, is a painter whose figurative work relies heavily on religious, mostly Christian, imagery to weave narratives about the feminine experience.

The show, “Holiness and the Feminine Spirit,” is McKenzie’s first museum exhibition, though her work has garnered a great deal of attention in recent years.

Her most known work is the painting “Jesus of the People,” which won top honors from the National Catholic Reporter a decade ago when the publication held an art competition calling for ”a new image of Jesus at the Millennium.” The judge, Sister Wendy Beckett, an art historian and host of the PBS show “Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting,” offered this response to the work: “This is a haunting image of a peasant Jesus—dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence. Over His white robe He draws the darkness of our lack of love, holding it to Himself, prepared to transform all sorrows if we will let Him.”
Read whole review by By Stacey Williams-Ng

Some good reviews for FigurativeArtist.org

2010-12-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Paula,
Wishing I had more time to look at ALL the wonderful artists you have included and drop them words of admiration. I will certainly be in good company, and hope you will continue to keep your bar high!

Cheers from gloomy California,
Alice

A L I C E S I M P S O N
C L A Y and B O O K S

Paula,
Thanks for putting me on your figurative artists site, it looks great! I will send you more info when I have time, your links work just fine, and I am from California, USA.

Thanks,
Candice Bohannon

Hi Paula,
Just checked it out...all works well, thanks! :-)

Mexico, nice! Today was snowing in Montreal...quite the opposite of Mexico weather I am sure.

Have a great holiday season too!

Later,
Gianni Giuliano

Hi Paula
Thanks for that. I'm delighted to be included in your site and must congratulate you again on putting together such a fascinating and in depth resource for artists and enthusiasts!
You may also be interested in my sister's work; www.jackieanderson.co.uk
This is going to be a very low key festive for me this year as I will be eight and a half months pregnant on Christmas day - thank goodness for internet shopping!
Hope you have a good one.
All the best.
Jennifer Anderson

Hi Paula, thanks so much for uploading my site. I'm very pleased and the links work perfectly.
Have a good festive thingy.
Best wishes, Sue.
Susan Williams

Hi Paula,
The link works fine, and I've already seen an increase in traffic to my website--thanks so much! I've put a link to the fig. site on my website too. I'll keep you updated on my news, and I'm in Chicago, by the way. Let me know if you ever come this way, we can meet up for coffee.

Thanks again and have a happy holiday season,
Susan Hall

Paula, this looks great. Thank you! The more I look at your site the more
interesting it is to me, and also, the more friends I see that are on it! I
really appreciate your adding me to the mix.

Sincerely, Catherine Prescott

Victoria Rose Martin, figurative ceramics sculpture

2010-12-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

My work features human animal hybrids; primarily the combination of people and birds. Since I was a child I have had a fascination with winged creatures. I see them as messengers traveling at a spiritually higher realm. The hybrid creatures are meant to be metaphors of our soul or unconscious.

The use of symbols such as monocles, hats, and wings express the duality between who we really are and how we want people to see us.

I hand build my functional sculptural boxes using low fire clay. The surfaces are decorated with stamped words, hand writing and a variety of finishes, including oxides, under glaze, and glaze.
Victoria Rose Martin

smARTist Telesummitt January 2011

2010-12-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

smARTist Telesummitt 2011

Join Artists from 38 USA States and 16 Countries
Artists from New Zealand to New York take part in our annual smARTist® Telesummit, the only professional development art-career conference-online or off.

This Online, Live, 7-Day Art Career Conference Is For You If...

* You are ready to bridge the gap between making art and making a living.
* You want your artwork in the world and are confused, or overwhelmed, about the best way to go about this.
* You toy with the idea of working as a full time artist, and aren't sure where to start.
* You work as a full time artist and you want new ideas and more inspiration to sell your art.
* You know there are better ways to market your art, online and off, and aren't sure which ones work best.
* You have lots of ideas, and want help focusing on where to begin and how to keep going.
* You want support and information from fellow artists who are on this path with you.

Paula writes - This interesting looking event is taking place online Jan 13-14 and 17-21. It can be listened to live or recorded on podcasts or be listened to through a boxed set of cds. It sounds very worthwhile for artists ready to make the next step towards advancing their careers commercially. If you do decided to register, please mention me as your reference. I haven't quite decided yet if I will sign up or not but if I do, your mention will gain me Brownie points.

Not interested in this Telesummit? They have a very good free weekly newsletter too so if learning on your own is more your speed, sign up for that. I KNOW you will learn something. Ariane Goodwin is FULL of good ideas. Some are free and some, well you just have to pay for... or not...

HERB and DOROTHY movie, Dev 7

2010-12-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

HERB and DOROTHY
Herb and Dorothy is a heartwarming, intimate portrait of a working-class couple completely obsessed with collecting art. But not just any art: their taste tends toward the esoteric, and over the past four decades the couple has amassed an unparalleled collection of conceptual and minimalist work. At last count, their collection included some 4800 pieces, many of which have been donated to the National Gallery of Art.

The film can be seen in the Pacific Northwest on Knowledge Network December 7, 2010 at 9pm.
YOU TUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-RjxaP5Bx4

Russell Walker likes our figurative painting site

2010-12-04T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hi Paula,
I came across your site and wanted to take a moment to applaud you for taking the time to put together a website of artists that you enjoy and put together a site that will broaden future artists exposure to those they may look to for inspiration.
Russell Walker

Catherine Prescott joins figurative artist network site

2010-11-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, Paula,
Tim Lowly is a good friend of mine and I was one of 25 artists who were asked by him to collaborate on a painting for his current show in Chicago. Thank you for looking me up. I know quite a few people who are on your website and would like to be included. I like the idea of a "visual neighborhood." There are also some artists on your site with whom I have exhibited but never met. I was in a group show in NYC a couple of years ago with Lani Irwin, for example.

I am also affiliated with Women Painting Women since Alia El Bermani invited me to be on their blog several months ago. Twelve of us are going to spend a WPW week painting together at a beach house near Charleston S.C. and I am included in the show at the Robert Lange Studios that you wrote about on your blog. I just won the Salamagundi Club award at the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Competition taking place at the National Art Club in NYC. I mention these recent things which are not yet on my website in case you want to include my work on your blog.

The painting I am sending you is called "Legacy: Portrait of Val", 72 x 48", 2010, which is currently in the "Inspiring Figures" show at the Butler Institute of American Art. It's an excellent exhibition which includes historical artists from the permanent collection (e.g. Mary Cassatt and Celia Beaux) with a lovely catalog. The show was organized by the Portrait Society of America and the Butler. I would hate to see this painting cropped so if you feel you have to, perhaps it would be better to pick a different image. Go ahead and pick a second image yourself since I don't know what you think suits your site. I have a few still lifes and drawings on there but my work is primarily figure paintings and portraits.

Congratulations on your project. I will be checking in from time to time. Please let me know when my images are up or if I am on your blog.

Thank you and best wishes,
Catherine Prescott (Catherine will be added to the figurative artist website when it's next updated)

Beatrice Coron, paper cutting as a figurative art form

2010-11-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Cut Stories Statement

My work tells stories. I invent situations, cities and worlds. These compositions include memories, associations of words, ideas, observations and thoughts that unfold in improbable juxtapositions. These invented worlds have their own logic and patterns. Images are conveyed through words, whether automatic writing or premeditated scenes. My creative inspiration comes from a text, a poem, the news or from a philosophical concept that can be reduced to a mere title. I research collective memories and myths, questioning the notions of identity and belonging. For each theme, I explore various narratives: one story leads to the next, and the creation process weaves different layers of our relations to the world.

My silhouettes are a language I have developed over the years; my point of view is both detailed and monumental. Cutting from a single piece of material, the profusion of individual stories creates a coherent universe. In my artist books and public art, where I play with full and empty shapes, everything must fall in place: one’s place in the world, one’s place in the city, one’s place in his or her body. In my graphic style, windows are used not to see out but in, placing the spectator in an outsider/insider situation. Shadows, reminiscent of film noir and voyeurism, leaves room for multiple interpretations.
Beatrice Coron

Victor Wang

2010-11-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

Victor Wang Artist Statement:

The human figures in my paintings serve as vehicles to convey the human experience, representing the emotional tension and psychological drama of life’s turning points. The blend of luminous color and buttery texture evoke the enigmatic environment where these moments of meditation originate. I have interwoven the sunflower – a prominent symbol throughout my life embodying both sorrow and joy – into my paintings. Incorporating the collaged images from China’s Tang Dynasty simultaneously acts as background and creates the signature of my heritage.

I am influenced by the exaggerated way Auguste Rodin uses clay to modelfigures. Sculpture is different from painting – with the expression and body language in the muscles, the form, you can really associate how inner emotion relates to the surface. So I have tried to treat my colors as clay rather than paint. I build up and model the form on canvas. The thickness of the paint evokes a sculptural and multi-level quality of my works.

Steven DaLuz, Neo-Luminism with gold leaf

2010-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

"I am compelled to do work that conjures up a sense mystery and ethereal light, whether figurative or abstract. My interests are evenly split between the two. While identified more with abstract works that are often landscape-referential, employing a process using metal leaf, chemically-induced patinas, oil, and other mixed media, I also consider the figure as endlessly relevant, with inherent potential for poetic introspection. Landscape, spirituality, and the figure all serve as inspiration for me. Collectively, my work often reflects upon primal questions about origins, the expressive beauty of the human figure, and the aesthetic power of light moving through an imagined atmosphere. In my search to find a genre that best fits my work, the little know genre of “Neo-Luminism” fits the bill best.

Like the "Luminist" style of the mid-19th century, for my purposes, "Neo-Luminist" art concerns itself with the glowing effects of light. It differs, in that "Neo-Luminism" does not necessarily concern itself with traditional landscape, does not rely on the masking of brushwork, nor is it overly concerned with detail. While it may share a feeling of tranquility, calm, and the sense of light piercing a soft, hazy "sky", Neo-Luminist" works may also be dramatic and turbulent. "Neo-Luminism" is typically present in works that REFER to landscape (rather than literal landscape). It normally has aspects of ethereal light, and hazy atmospheric qualities. It may also be present in figurative works, so long as reflective properties of underlying surfaces are exploited to convey the effect of light.

My intention is not literal narrative. Instead, I strive for a kind of unspoken connection between the work and the viewer.
© Steven DaLuz

Suzanne Northcott piece sells for $11,000 at charity auction, Vancouver

2010-11-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

Granville Fine Art would like to congratulate Suzanne Northcott on the sale of 'Nesting II' at the Splash Arts Umbrella charity auction last week. Her piece brought in a whopping $11,000.00 and got her a mention in the Financial Post along with two other well-recognized B.C. artists. A big thank you to Suzanne.

Granville Fine Art
2447 Granville Street corner of Broadway and Granville
Vancouver, BC

Suzanne also does lovely figurative work and is featured on http://www.figurativeartist.org/10_figurative_painters_sculptors_artists.htm

William B. Miller, Jr. shares painting proccess

2010-11-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

There has been a very interesting and rewarding progression in my painting technique over 40 years. As is typical, I began by learning to draw in life classes and painting from the live model. Over time, like most current artists, I began to use photographic resources to enhance those pictures. Landscapes were occasionally done plein air but were often done with a photographic visual reference. The problem using any single photograph is that the artist is accepting an inherently limiting boundary. During the last few years, even as I knew that I was becoming more technically adept, I felt as if my paintings were too safe, mundane and formulaic. I began to feel strongly that it was important for me to move beyond the decorous and static figures I had previously been doing and that my paintings would be more satisfying if they were infused with more vitality and had a dramatic sensibility. Initially, I felt that this could be achieved by simply utilizing a more direct gaze from the model or some element of elevated eroticism, mystery, or romanticism.

Most recently, I have begun a series that has been the most pleasurable of my painting career focusing on some of the classical dramatic themes like Salome or Samson and Delilah but infusing them with a modern spirit and character. Doing this requires a multi-step computer progression beginning with a strong conception of the exact dramatic spirit and theme, for example, Salome dancing for King Herod. From that initial visualization, I compose a carefully crafted visual narrative utilizing as many as 20 sources for each painting. Each of these sources is combined, rearranged, and fit together akin to blocking in a canvas. Each conception goes through extensive iterations, changing figure placement, furnishings, architectural elements, adjusting lighting and contrasts to achieve an image that simply “works” for me. This then gets put aside to let my eyes and perspective rest, and this will be further altered over the course of about a month. At that point, I am content with that image as the basis of an oil painting. What I am currently interested in achieving is an image which has a sense of stagecraft and theatricality. There needs to be a dramatic focus that will engage the imagination of the viewer. Most importantly, it must be an action image, and not a passive one. Usually, the drama is enhanced by strong lighting from a single source to enhance the thematic elements.

After this stage, the laborious process of transferring it to canvas is done, and the entire image is reappraised since sizing a small computer image up in scale introduces distortions which are not apparent on a small basic computer image. An absolutely solid drawing is essential. From that point on, multiple layers of oil paint beginning with intermediate tones first, darks second and lightest areas last with carefully executed and adjusted highlights. When the painting is finished, it gets put away for up to 4 months, and then reappraised . Multiple sessions of readjustment are usually necessary. If all goes well, it has been a great journey.

There are many wonderful figurative works being done currently with great technical panache. Many of these include figures in repose or in a static moment. My artistic aim is invest my canvases with emotion, drama, and movement representing a vivid updating of a classical tradition.
© William B. Miller, Jr.

Cristina Cordova ceramic and mixed media sculptures

2010-11-04T14:00:00.001-07:00

Cristina Cordova shows her ceramics and mixed media figurative sculptures at Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL Nov 5-20. Spectacular!

Blake presents Fragments in Cambodia

2010-11-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Blake splits his time between Monaco and Asia. Check out his site.

Figuratively Speaking, Las Vegas through Jan 2011

2010-10-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas Art - Gallery of Fine Art - Bellagio
Located at the heart of the elegant Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (BGFA) is Las Vegas' premier exhibition space - where great art goes on vacation. BGFA is committed to presenting intimate exhibitions featuring works by some of the world's most compelling artists. BGFA exhibitions are organized in partnership with museums and foundations from around the world.
Figuratively Speaking:
A Survey of the Human Form - On view through January 2011

This engaging survey features more than 40 paintings, photographs and sculpture along with video installations by 29 artists whose traditional and contemporary perspectives on figurative art helped to define the genre in the late 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries.

Paula writes: I thoroughly enjoyed this show!! If you're there, drop in and see it.

Chris Mars, fantasy realism artist, news

2010-10-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

NEW WORK POSTED NOW UNDER LATEST:
http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/home.htm
Paintings, Drawings, Scratchboard

Upcoming Exhibitions:
October 23, 2010 through January 23, 2011
ERIE ART MUSEUM: http://www.erieartmuseum.org/
Solo exhibition inaugurates the new Bacon Gallery at EAM

October 28 through November 1, 2010
BLOOOM, COLOGNE, GERMANY: http://www.blooom.de/
Varnish Fine Arts debuts new work by Chris Mars

October 29 through November 21, 2010
LAST RITES, NEW YORK, NY: http://www.lastritesgallery.com/
Annual group show features 2 new works by Chris Mars

November 12, 2010 through February 13, 2011
SACRED MACHINE, TUCSON, AZ: http://www.sacredmachine.com/
Small works group show curated by Daniel Martin Diaz and Paula Valencia

February 1 through April 30, 2011
GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER, SANTA ANA, CA: http://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/
Low Brow Survey curated by Nathan Spoor

February 7 through February 14, 2011
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK NY: http://www.moma.org/
Special screening of the films of Chris Mars, additional details forthcoming

Current Exhibitions:
LOW BROW TAROT PROJECT, LOS ANGELES, CA: http://www.lowbrowtarot.com/
Through October 31

SANTA MUERTE, TUCSON, AZ: http://www.sacredmachine.com/
Through November 7

THANKS and Happy Halloween.

Chris Mars Publishing Inc.
Image above - A Safe Distance, Scratchboard, 15x15, 2010

How Alice Neel revived portraiture

2010-10-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

By Douglas Britt

Alice Neel - a portrait painter during an era when portraiture was considered obsolete - was heading into old age by the time she began to enjoy some recognition in the 1960s, and her reputation has grown steadily ever since. Marlene Dumas, a figurative painter whose career has benefited from Neel's trailblazing, first stumbled across a Neel reproduction as an art student during the 1970s. Dumas grasped as well as anyone what made Neel unique, and she writes about it in the catalog for Alice Neel: Painted Truths, a knockout of an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Read whole article. Paula writes; I have written several times to her estate, would love to feature her inspiring work on our site but have had no reply.

James Butler cheesed off with dislike for figurative art

2010-10-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

James Butler RA, who has exhibited in the annual exhibition every year since 1960, said he was "cheesed off" that one of his sculptures had been placed in a little-visited stairwell. Butler, 79, thought the decision betrayed a dislike for figurative art - in which people or objects are portrayed in a straightforward manner - among some people at the RAA, Royal Academy of Art, London. Read article.

Shana Smith's art reflects her faith

2010-10-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

These two paintings were my final project for my painting class last semester. This was my first time having a nude model to myself, it was a very positive experience for everyone involved and I am grateful for the opportunity. I really felt in my element while doing these paintings as the human form is my favorite subject and I really prefer working from life because of its directness and the quality of the relationship you have with your subject. It is more difficult for me to engage with a photographic reference than it is to engage directly with an actual person. I really enjoyed these paintings and am very satisfied with their outcomes, particularly the second one. The first one sort of warmed me up to the second and my improvement is visible to me at least. I'm not saying I don't like the first one but the second painting I think is my favorite painting I've ever done. I am looking forward to doing more figurative paintings next year, as of now my studios are graphic design and printmaking.

When I found that the model available to me was a woman I knew that these paintings would be an exploration of a woman's inherent connection with the Blessed Virgin Mary. These paintings are very affirming of the dignity of a woman, they are a celebration of womanhood.

The primary way I alluded to Mary is in the body language, the figures are posed in ways that are characteristic of Mary in the way they express receptivity. I wanted these paintings to be accessible to people who may not have a Christian background and I feel that the human body, which carries these paintings, is very expressive and speaks a language everyone understands. At the same time I wanted these paintings to have something to offer to someone more familiar with Catholicism and/ or art history. I sought to achieve these two things by keeping the images simple yet having layers of meaning.

While I was painting the second, I had in mind the assumption of Mary, body and soul, into heaven. The background color is suggestive of the sky. You cannot see it so well in the photograph but toward the bottom the background is lighter and toward the top lighter. This not only imitates how the sky actually looks but gives the figure a sense of being lifted up. The posture of the figure expresses openness and vulnerability toward God. The unclothed body is meant to express a similar baring of the the spirit before God. Mary's glory was the grace of Her complete surrender to God, her complete surrender to Love.
Shana Smith